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Tag Archives: writing classes
Goodbye 2020 Sale – All On-Demand Writing Classes $5
It’s the end of the year that has somehow been one of the longest and shortest in human history. To celebrate, the Rambo Academy is finishing up with a massive sale: all on-demand online writing classes are $5.
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Why You Can’t Teach Writing
How do you learn to write? You learn by observing and doing, by reading good fiction and making attempts at your own. The truth is that writing is primarily self-taught, that the axiom that you must write a million words is on the mark, and that the first truth is this: To learn to write, you must be writing.
With my students who are writing and thinking about writing, I would have to actively give them bad advice like Play videogames rather than write. Don’t read anything. Only write when you’re in the mood. for them not to get better.
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Posted in Writing
Tagged on writing, speculative fiction workshops, writing, writing advice, writing classes
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On Writing: Creating Emotional Impact Through Characters
I’ve been teaching an advanced workshop that’s been a lot of fun. I gave them one of my favorite texts, an issue of Swamp Thing by Alan Moore called “Pog.” You might want to read it before proceeding on to the discussion of it. Go ahead, I’ll wait.
I picked that text because it has a high degree of emotional impact. It was a great starting point for talking about how to create that in a piece of fiction. In discussing how Moore achieved that, we realized that it is primarily constructed through the characters. While it’s nice to see the images, they are not the primary source of the impact.
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Posted in Writing
Tagged alan moore, characters, creating interesting characters, pog, pogo, swamp thing, walt kelly, writing characters, writing classes, writing F&SF, writing good
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