On Mon, 24 Nov 1997, Kirsten Corby wrote:
> In a message dated 97-11-21 15:00:39 EST, you write:
>
> << I doubt there's been any studies done on this, but I
> wonder just how many published writers actually TOOK any creative writing
> classes or graduated in the "field.".......
> >>
>
> I took one creative writing class as an undergraduate. A horrible experince!
> Hordes of dreary postmodern stories from my fellow students, trying to be
> "meaningful." The instructor, a writer of artsy-fartsy short stories (you
> know, the kind where nothing actually *happens*), who gave us as the text a
> short story anthology with one of *her own* stories in it, told me I had no
> talent. I failed the class!
>
> Not that I have been terribly terribly published, but I have published three
> short stories so far. When I sold the first one, I thought, "Hah, I showed
> her!"
>
> So, no, given my limited experince I would not go the university creative
> writing program course. It's a red herring in my opinion.
Now, hold on a sec -- please don't blast an entire field based on one bad
teacher! I'm a graduate both of a university CW program (Princeton's
undergraduate one) and of Clarion West, and I teach CW now. I'm a firm
believer in workshops: the trick is to find one where the participants
are sympathetic to your project. Yes, there are plenty of artsy-fartsy
nazis out there, but plenty of us aren't, too. My own students have
commended my willingness to read *anything* they write, whether it's SF,
historical fiction, satire, postmodernist meaningfulness, etc.
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