This week's class met at the library since the community center was closed (it was the day after Christmas) but my students wanted to meet anyway, which was fine by me. Only four of them showed up, but that's also fine by me. I gave them a handout about setting — what the elements are, …
Dialogue
So far in my class we've talked about characterization and point of view, and last night we tackled dialogue. I wasn't sure how interested my students would be in this subject, but they ended up having a lot of questions — ranging in topic from punctuation to whether it's more effective to use dialogue or …
Point of View
After last week's disappointments, I really struggled with planning this week's lesson on point of view. I wasn't sure how much detail would be too much for the class. Should I just introduce first-, second-, and third-person narration? Or should I also get into third-person objective, limited, and omniscient narration? The third-person specifics seemed like …
Learning
Some writers believe writing can't be taught. Others claim anyone can learn to be a writer, that it’s all about discipline and perseverance. Personally, I subscribe to Galileo’s theory, which seems to combine the two ways of thinking: “You cannot teach a man anything, you can only help him find it within himself.” This theory …
Foray into teaching
I taught my first creative writing class this week! It was the first session of a free ten-week course at my local community center. So far I only have six students (and only four of them could come this time), but we're hoping to grow as we go. I'm happy to say that the group …
