I hate my "creative" writing class.

[icarus]

I hate my creative writing class.

For me, it's an experience of stultifying any sense of creativity in order to fit the definitions of "literature." (Be sure to say that with nasal, snotty voice.) The textbooks are great, but every time I have a real issue or question -- there's no help.

Use music. Great idea, I do it all the time.

Write every day or you'll find it suddenly difficult to write, yes, no shit, but everyone falls off, so it's better to get into how to pick yourself up again.

Only good writers have writer's block -- value judgement, bullshit detector goes off.

Do a sensory journal to get into the details of how you experience things ... that's a good way to get away from telling and not showing, perhaps I'll try it, but I don't want to write my life. My life is either boring or terrifying and horrible, depending on when you pick it up. I've only two people in my life who's been able to get through a retelling of the "highlights" of my life, and one of them is wildernessguru.

I don't want to do the exercises, I don't want to write what he tells me to, and I can't stand the arrogant dismissiveness I have to put up with towards "genre" fiction.

I don't think the teacher is very good and because I had a brilliant teacher at my previous school I do know the difference. I could talk to my teacher at my other school about writer's block, and he'd say something profound, tell me a story from his writing experiences where he built a house because "sometimes you can't force it." He said he doesn't believe in writer's block, writer's block is just a name we put on a variety of other issues.

I talk to this teacher and he, well, he doesn't have any ideas. "I don't know what to do about that," he says.

You don't tell a student a simple I don't know, because what you're really saying is I don't care. Because if you cared, you'd at least say, "Let me think about it."

I feel like I'm wasting my time.

When's that cyberculture class again? I'm not taking the Creative Writing track at the college anyway.

Comments

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

That bites. Reminds me of my creative writing class in high school. I never wanted to do the projects b/c it's honestly hard for me when someone says "okay, here's what you're going to write about...".

Also? There's something about teaching creative writing that just doesn't sound right.

P.S., whenever I see spiders I think of you. No, that's not a bad thing.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

So in your honor, when I wrote my next Creative Writing assignment (which had to be an anecdote) I wrote about that spider. :)

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

Awwww, I do feel honored! I hope you received a good mark on it. :)

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

No grades on the exercises, just on the story portfolio. We'll see what he thought of it on Tuesday.

Icarus

[slashophile.livejournal.com]

Oooh, okay. :) You must let me know, it has to be divine. :D