Still sadly lacking in fannish content

[itsallovernow]

I have decided to splurge ( said with a gulping hysterical sort of laugh) and take a writing class this spring because I need a kick in the pants. I have always done better with deadlines than with the sort of amorphous, "I should work on this" mentality. And I know myself well enough that if I get entrenched in telling a story, I'll keep to it. It's the entrenchment that I'm lacking.

So, my options are several different UCLA extension courses:

Introduction to Fiction Writing
Writing the Short Story
Writing the First Novel

I could also contact the professors of the level II classes and see if they'd let me in.

There's also a Media Bistro class that runs all summer that sounds more like novel writing boot camp.

So, my concern is that the level 1 classes will be too fundamental. Any sort of feedback in a structured environment, any sort of exercises are good, but I don't want feel like I'm waiting for other people to catch up. This could be hubris on my part. I could get into the class, and feel like I'm the one who's been left behind.

My fear with the Media Bistro class is that I'm not at the stage of really churning out the whole work. But then, I don't know if you're ever at that stage. I think you've gotta just plunge ahead.

I also don't know which would be more beneficial - the UCLA format or the Media Bistro, but I know I've gotta do something to get myself going or I'll keep talking and talking instead of writing.

So, thoughts, suggestions?

Comments

[raithen.livejournal.com]

1. you could totally do the boot camp thing, IF YOU WANT TO! Talk to the facilitator, if you can, about teh structure, expectations, fellow participants.

2. DEFINITELY talk to the profs about level I vs. level II -- get some input on what to expect. They don't want overqualified students in their intro classes (makes teaching murder) and they don't want underqualified students in the level II classes (also makes teaching murder) - so they are likely to be fairly honest with you and willing to talk.

[http://users.livejournal.com/_minxy_/]

1. I would love to take one of these classes, that's a really cool idea. Wish I lived in LA so I could go with yooooouuuuuu.

2. For community, I'd go with the boot camp, because you'd get a lot of other people really devoting time and energy to the course, and fiction 101 or first novel could be people feeling around several different things in a noncommital way, and it sounds like you want the others around you to be motivated.

3. re: churning out a whole work. You gotta start somewhere. Even if you just learn what you need to do to make it happen it will be worthwhile, and if you create something you're proud of? Well then, personal goal #281, check.

Fic question

[leadensky.livejournal.com]

Not *exactly* writing-course related, but if a person was going to make up a list of her favorite fic writers, and was going to (for some wacked out reason, no clue why, brain damage might be involved) put you on this list, is there a good place (other than Levi) to point people towards for reading your fic?

And am I this person *really* delusional, or didn't you write some stuff that wasn't FS? Like, say, FF?

It's so hard to keep track any more...

- hg

Re: Fic question

[thassalia.livejournal.com]

Grins at you:)

I've written a little bit of FF(not including Citrine, but definitely including Multiverse), and some SG-1 season 9, and an XF story for Hap, a few random drabbley things for AtS. I'm trying to go back and archive everything in memories so if you give me a few days, that and Leviathan are the best bets.