Please note all names have been changed for confidentiality!
Creative Writing. The first class and my first venture into such territory. Feelings this morning? Impatience, nervous excitement, new chapter in life, next step to becoming a professional author? And, well, more nerves than I could shake ten sticks at - but as the books all say - it's good for a new author to get out and share...
What was I expecting? A smallish group of possibly more women than men, more retired than under 30's (big clue: class is during the day), maybe one or two people who love the sound of their own voice, a teacher's pet, a silent watcher? I have read about these stereotypes in writing magazines and looked forward to spotting if any were in attendance.
What I found? It’s early days but only the first 3 correct so far. (Small group, more women than not, more retired than not). I was relieved to find we were nearly all feeling quite nervous - only a couple didn't appear so and they had been to similar classes before. Nobody took over, nobody spoke over anyone else and I couldn't wish to have met a more diverse group from so many interesting backgrounds! Phew.
The best part was after about 20 minutes, when the door opened and an elderly gent walked in, sporting a big white name sticker. I will call him “Gerald".
"So sorry I'm late. I just spent 20 minutes in the wrong class wondering when the hell they were going to get around to the Creative Writing!"
‘Gerald’ is 89, and a real character. I am soooo looking forward to meeting him again next week. He really broke the ice too! The tutor said how glad we were that he was here, and he replied with a twinkle in his eye,
"Thank you. I am very pleased to be here too. In fact, at my age, I'm glad to be anywhere at all!"
Disappointingly, we spent almost the entire first session going through and filling in forms. These were mostly concerned with what we hoped to get out of the course (dreaded Learning Objectives form) and how to demonstrate what we had learned. It’s a shame the tutors have to spend time going through the course outline, H&S, facilities, regulations, etc., and I'm sure they don't want to do it either! Our tutor did ask what sort of writing we were interested in too though - so hopefully the remainder will be tailored appropriately.
The emphasis of the given structure of the course was on producing written pieces of work for Ofsted and the accreditation of the course. Thankfully most people said they were not really interested in gaining points or a certificate after the course, so now the tutor doesn’t have to be concerned about meeting those requirements for our group and we will be freer to explore other areas. She did say that her evening group had been pushing her for weeks to try and get accreditation for the course, so I feel that I made the right choice coming to the daytime class. In addition I will save lots of babysitting money which would have been prohibitive on top of the course fees.
I felt sorry for the poor tutor having to ask us (and apparently she will have to do this every week) if we 'feel safe’ to learn in this environment? Health & Safety /Ofsted regulations, etc. More red tape, grrrrr. Interestingly my Mum started a computer course at the same college the same week and they only spent 15 minutes on all the forms, and never asked if they felt safe - so fingers crossed we can hit the ground running next week.
At the end we were given our first piece of homework. (After moans of disapproval of not being given any!) Don’t forget we are all students again, and this time we CHOOSE to be here and actually want to learn. We want to get started and we WANT homework! This was the most refreshing part of today's foray - so very different from being at school! Our first piece of homework, thought up quickly by the poor tutor caught on the hop, is to write a short piece (about 500-1000 words) on something we haven't told each other during the morning - including those bits we all told during the horrendous 'creeping death' of introducing ourselves one by one. That had been nerve-wracking, and took up all of the remaining time between forms, but when it had been done everyone felt a lot more confident about talking openly to each other, and for future weeks to talk aloud.
In answer to a question I was asked on another forum, no I don’t feel short-changed that we weren’t actually taught anything in this first class, and the homework task was one set at short notice. I expect we will be moaning in later weeks that we don’t have time to write more!
I will be interested to see the levels of constructive criticism offered; when people said a little bit about why they were here, it got quite emotional. The tutor also talked about bullying and had to ask that when we offer our opinions on others’ work, we don’t ever say “It’s rubbish!” How awful to have to tell us – would anyone really say that?! Apparently someone on a similar course was a bit of a bully. Having said that, I hope that people will feel they can still be honest and if they think a particular piece of mine is a complete load of rubbish, I think I would prefer them to say so, as long as it is backed up with reasons and /or suggestions (and maybe a box of Kleenex, a big box of choccies and a huge bouquet of roses.)
It will also be interesting to compare notes with an on-line buddy who is doing a virtual course on-line. So far they haven’t been asked if they feel ‘virtually safe’ – but it’s early days! I would be interested to know what the OU Creative Writing course has to offer too if anyone has done that?
Week 10 of the course structure says 'collect booklets and relax'. The booklets referred to are homemade A5 pages of our work which will be copied for us all at the end. The pieces from last year's course were all about the fairytale Red Riding Hood. The task was to write anything they liked about the fairytale, so predictably, there was the wolf's story and grandma’s perspective in addition to a contemporary RRH tale, but one piece did look a bit different – it was a well-researched history of the tale in all its incarnations. Good stuff!
Regarding fairytales, the best book I bought to read to my little girls at bedtime (apart from the obvious 'Guess How Much I Love You' and ‘The Very Hungry Caterpillar’and not forgetting ALL of the original Mr Men), was a gorgeous picture book called "The Three Little Wolves And The Big Bad Pig." I highly recommend it to all readers with small children or grandchildren!
In conclusion, I believe the course will provide a great opportunity to get to know other writers, and I am sure when it gets going we will enjoy some interesting discussions and receive teaching which is tailor made to help us achieve our objectives for doing the course. As I explained in the group, I need help with plot/structure and changing viewpoints, from first person to third/narrative, as I want to change from writing non-fiction to fiction. (I had found writing 'true-life' relatively easy - as it was almost like writing a diary).
Crikey - how will it feel to have to READ OUT our own writing next week???
Watch this space!
