Not just whilst, but also thrice.
For DH, btw, whilst was a hangover from his southern roots.
I’m very upset about this, because she essentially called me a racist and a sexist.
Nah, she called you out on the limitations of your own preferences, she’s asking you to stretch. Not a bad thing to learn. You can write what you want for yourself and leave it on your laptop in a “me” file.
The real world is bigger than just our own comfort zones.
When it come to writing, most of it leads to editorial comment or crritique. Most of us realize this, are open to it, and don’t rest our egos on someone asking for different. You’re dreaming if you think novices get to write only what they want, warts and all.
Editing skills (including self-editing and developing editorial perspective) are critical. A former boss used to bemoan what he called “pride of authorship,” that inflexibility which doesn’t yield growth or success. A form of “I wrote it, so it’s good enough.”
Gearmom, but it’s a class, not a club. Would we tell a kid taking an acting or music class as a side interest that it’s ok to just perform as he wishes, that all it takes is his thinking it’s “authentic” to him?
Writing is so accessible (look at all of us here) that many forget it’s not just what you want to do with it. Ha.
@lookingforward I think it is really important to respect people for who they authentically are. OP seems to think that his work is authentic to himself. I would provide my feedback as a reader or my feedback for what he may need to do as a commercial artist but I would never ask him to change on my account or because I wanted him to be different. I would tell him of opportunities that he might want to consider and then respect his decision.
Then he can write on his own, not pursue class. Or take the class elsewhere, where all sorts of classmates write only what they wish. I don’t mean to push a harsh point. But is he learning skills or just writing? What do we think the point of this course is?
@lookingforward If writing in many voices, sexes or ethnicities is a requirement of the class then fine. If not, peop!e can’t attend creative writing classes if their writing does not reflect the personal values and preferred style of the teacher? I personally find that disappointing.
OP should then not take more classes with this teacher if he is desiring freedom of expression within his creative writing. BUT I also don’t think that learning the skill of writing outside yourself is a bad idea if that is what you want. You’d connect to a larger audience. Sometimes though I think they is a readiness to hearing advice and not all people are ready at the same time.
I think the conversation went south after OP said he could add an arbitrary black female. There are plenty of books with a male group as the central characters. The Outsiders comes to mind first for me and that is fine. I also think OP might be emotionally wrapped up in the world he has created and attached to his story and charaters. Perhaps making it an assignment to change voices would be the best approach. It would not single out any individual and the emotion is removed. It’s possible that OP was so horrified by the projected implications that he could not hear or consider anything else being said. Your audience sometimes enjoys your work more if they have identifiable characters. There are tools for you to explore that if and when you’re ready.
I wonder if there is a syllabus or rubric that talks about expectations for the class. The prof may have even documented there that she hopes students will try some writing that is outside their comfort zone or experience. (Or the prof might want to do that going forward). I have to say, the most memorable reading a student in my college creative writing class did of their own work was about what his dog and cat do while he is away from home. He definitely took someone else’s viewpoint. Still cracks me up 35 years later to think about it.
@intparent The teacher should get make it a class assignment if that is what the teacher wants.
Getting personal, I think is tricky. What OP perhaps should hear from this is you can lose your audience if you do not include relatable characters. It sounds like you might be losing the teacher. Just be aware and decide what you want to do with that.
Where is there any indication this kiddo is from the UK? Was that posted somewhere? He said he was from LA (not necessarily IN LA at the moment). If he was dealing with the wildfires there, its unlikely the initial posting of this thread would have been a priority yesterday.
And, post 47 was an attempt to be witty. Apologies if it flew over your head.
@jym626 It didn’t fly over my head. I thought he might have British influence by the way he was writing. It’s been about 30 hours. He could be busy with anything.
Sure he could. But he might not. Just funny the # of posts, all essentially giving the same advice/ saying the same thing about his need to be more open minded and less flowery in his writing style. Pip pip and cheerio
Still cracks me up 35 years later to think about it.