For those of you who write, I am interested in what (if any) formal training you have had in creative writing and whether you thought it was helpful. 

For those who just like to read, I'm wondering why it is you don't write or if you have ever considered it?

As for myself, I didn't post anything for a long time because it is kinda scary to put yourself out there like that.  Plus, it's not something that I share with co-workers, or even my family.  Probably could get me fired for doing it at all, let alone if they found me reading/writing while at work!

I haven't had any formal training in creative writing beyond the standard college composition 101, which wasn't really geared to creative fiction.  Today I attended a workshop which offered some concrete ideas we are supposed to use with elementary school students, which I found really interesting and  is what got me thinking of this.

Hm - formal training in creative writing.  I had always written stuff (mostly poetry) when I was a child and I took creative writing in high school. I was an English major in college, so had to do a lot of writing for that degree. Never really had any interest in writing stories, though; although I did do my final paper for an anthropology class as a short story and got an "A+" and a suggestion that I write books for young adults.( lol)  All my training and experience is in essay-style, advertising and/or business writing, so writing fiction has been a long-term learning process. I made all the typical beginner mistakes with my first stories and am constantly revising them as I learn more. 

Knowing how to write clear, grammatical English puts you way ahead of the game.  Then it's just a question of learning the ins and outs of writing creatively.  I don't think anyone can teach you how to have ideas - that's just something some people (other people, alas, not me -lol)  seem to be born with.  Their minds just teem with plots and characters.  You can, however, learn how to bring your characters to life and to improve your dialogue and narrative skills.  I think creative writing courses are a good idea because they force you to write - no matter what your muse wants to do - and because there is usually good feedback. Writercon was, I thought, a great idea and I got a lot of good stuff from the panels there. I would say anything like that where people who know what they are talking about are sharing their writing tips and skills is a good idea.  You learn to write by doing it - and doing it under some sort of supervision and feedback works best.

I went to art school.  Does that count.  My English teachers were a bunch of flaming gasbags.  They couldn't have written a story if the next apocalypse depended on it.  I got some help from books written by writers.  Best so far is The Key, by James Frey.  You can get it for a few dollars from half.com

Formal training. .  um.  None.  Really.  I took one creative writing class on short stories and when I turned in my short story my professor had only one thing to say.

Ah.  Other than that I was taught grammar and usage by nuns, so that explains a lot. 

However, my grandmother edited for Rod Serling when he wrote and then worked on The Twilight Zone as a story editor.  So writing is in my blood, plus I'm almost all Celt, so storytelling is in my soul, too.

Well, grammar and spelling-wise, my mother was a teacher - minored in English - so, I got all the proper things drilled into my head from a very early age. I could read when I was 2, and was two grade levels ahead by the time I entered kindergarten. My speech was always corrected all the way through elementary school, unless I was deliberately speaking backwards to be funny. She pounded stuff in my brain enough that I even mentally correct people in my head as they talk...and always when I'm reading.

It's embarrassing. LOL

Had a creative writing class for a semester as a senior in h.s. All of our stories and such were started from prompts, like having to fit certain words into something, and that really helped me. I was completely incapable of writing creatively before that. Seriously. Complete mental blank. Asking me to brainstorm on paper without a topic to go off on was torture.  Anyway, my teacher liked my stuff, so that helped a lot. My English class in college was proverbs, parables, and psalms...so I learned a bit about poetry and such...really, I took it just because I needed an easy class that year, and not much stuck later, so...

Anyway, I began writing fanfic in May last year. Started posting in June, with encouragement from a friend, who was my only reviewer for a long time. Didn't approach Spuffy until last December, and that was short. I have 3 completed fics, 3 WIPs, and the one new ficlet.

I also have an original story in progress that I hope to e-publish once it's done and edited. It's just a basic romance. My stories have primarily been about the relationships, with a bit of fantasy plot in the 'verse, so I need to practice/learn further before I try other genres.

Caro Mio

Um, no training in creative writing, but lots in technical writing.  I'm a scientist by trade, and that means I've had grammar forcibly beaten into my brain, but tedious, Byzantine sentence structure is acceptable (or even expected) in the field.

Well, I've always written stories. My parents and grandparents read to my sister and I when we were little. I've always loved reading and looked forward to the creative writing portion of my English classes in school.

 I remember in elementary school how we would practice creative writing. They would give ups a picture to look at and we had to write a paragraph describing the photo. I write some poetry but my heart is in fiction.

 In Junior high I was introduced to Edgar Allan Poe. This got me started on writing horror stories. My mother convinced me to read Anne Rice's "The Mummy" when I was in High school. I already had a love of the supernatural and this only fed my interest. I was already writing some fan fiction at that time. My senior year I took creative writing and by the time it was over I knew what I wanted to do with my life. I knew I wanted to write books. I just did not know what to do with myself until then. ;)

I majored in Literature in college and though I have yet to finish it, I will. (I got married and moved to Canada. I can't go back to school yet.) I did take creative writing in college and an elective of Gothic Literature. That was a fun class. One day the teacher did not show up and we all sat around talking about our favorite TV shows and books. They all fell under the course subject too.

I learned grammar and in school like everyone else. I still break down certain words the same way my second and fifth grade teacher taught us. I'm using fan fiction to practice my writing. I've now moved my sights onto writing fantasy books as well. I blame my husband. =) It's his fault I started reading Margaret Wise, Tracy Hickman, and R. A Salvatore. (Among many others)

I have two WIP's posted on this site and three more that I am not posting until they are either finished, have a word count of 10,000 or more, or I've finished one or both of the two stories posted here. This all depends on what comes first. =)

LadyYashka

None other than school (and like Nia I had nuns. LOL). I have always been a bookworm, and I loved  writing when I was younger... that hobby went by the wayside when I had children and then studying and work... now the kids are all but grown up and my love of the BtVS characters inspired me to begin writing again.

~*~

I've now moved my sights onto writing fantasy books as well. I blame my husband. =) It's his fault I started reading Margaret Wise, Tracy Hickman, and R. A Salvatore.

Lady Yashka you have to try Raymond E Feist, he is my favourite fantasy author.. oh, and Anne MacCaffrey too.

Hmm...no formal training to speak of, but I always took honors classes in English and Writing all through school.  Also I have a mother that was an English major and paraprofessional, so I got the rules drilled into my head fairly well.

And, while technically I'm a "writer" of fanfic, I much more often only read, and the reasons behind that pretty much revolve around my fear that I will start writing a story that people actually like, and then I will never get around to finishing it, and everyone who read the story will hate me for leaving it a WIP.  Why would I be scared of that happening?  Oh wait, because I've already done it.  Three times.  Way more than that if you count the dozen or so "Chapter 1's" of stories saved on a disk that have never seen the light of day.

ROFL at Weyrwolfen  but tedious, Byzantine sentence structure is acceptable (or even expected) in the field.   So true! Alas.

Important points that I see in the above comments:  A love of reading and having done a lot of it can be more than helpful and inspiring.  So can having come from a literary family - whether there's a genetic componet (dog breeder, here - genes carry all kinds of information beyond how tall and what color the eyes are going to be) to having writers in the family, or simply the enviornmental influences of being around storytelling and reading - I don't think the value of having grown up with litereature can be underestimated.  

And, never forget, the ability to write really well is as much a gift as it is a learned skill. Just like any other art or talent. Some got it, some don't.  The rest of us just need to practice, practice, practice.  :D

And life experience!!

There wasn't much I could write about with impact at 18. Now, at 29? Totally different story.

Byzantine sentence structure - LOLOLOLOL....

My grandma was a storyteller, too. Goodness, she could entrance me for hours...I'd ask for the same stories from her childhood over and over and over...I'm pretty sure she has some influence on how I write now.

Caro Mio

I'll have to check those out. My husband has some of their books laying around the house.

My Great-Grandfather used to tell me stories about his childhood as well. I loved to listen to stories about all of the mischief he'd get into. He was a little stinker as a kid.

Another influence was Calvin and Hobbes by Bill Watterson. I still read through my collection of Calvin and Hobbes comic books. I have them all. Who could pass up "Attack Of The Deranged Mutant Killer Monster Snow Goons." This news paper comic was actually well thought out and had great character development. They even had sub-plots. (i.e.: the noodle incident) How many news paper comics had this?

LadyYashka

I've only had experience writing essays for high school and college classes, plus a few newswriting/editing classes.  Hmm.  I think I've forgotten everything I learned though! 

I haven't written anything as of yet (I'm really just not ready), but I have plenty of plot-y goodness rolling around in my brain.  So far, I'm all idea and no execution!  lol. 

Nope, nothing, no training whatsoever. In fact, I pretty much sucked at English in school (although that was nothing compared to how badly I sucked at French). In German (that's where I would have learned style and stuff, English was mostly about the vocabulary) I hoovered around C up until the last two years of school; when I got a new teacher who cared more about whether I could back up my opinions, than whether I agreed with him. All in all I was never language-gal, sience was more my forte. Later I studied Information Technology for a while, but I never had to write any essays or anything.

I've always loved reading though, and the ideas for writing things were there. I just never thought there was a place for someone who never took any classes on writing to publish their attempts - until I discovered fanfiction.

But I've always believed that if you do something you should try to do it right, so I'm now trying to catch up on everything I didn't learn in school.

Yup, Byzantine.  Schez has been making me behave lately, but the danger is always there. ;-)

It's not really "training," but I read like a mad woman.  In addition to my fic habit, I usually have two or three novels running at the same time (Emerald Sea - John Ringo, Foreigner - C.J. Cherryh, and Road of the Patriarch - R.A. Salvatore right now).  Add to that my usual regimen of journal papers and pseudo-scientific books and I usually have my face stuck in some kind of text. I'm sure my style, such that it is, has been affected by all of the things I have read.

I did a posting on RRU about this subject, and when I think we've gotten all the comments we're going to get, I will try to summarize the thoughts and put them up here.

ATM, there seems to be general agreement that you cannot teach creativity - which is, of course, a huge component of writing fic - but there is value in learning how to express your creative thoughts coherently.  More specifics when I have time to compile them.

What's RRU?

RRU= Riters_R_Us  a live journal community for discussing writing.

I have none. The only "formal" education I got was from school. I was placed in scholars English from the 4th grade. I'm still trying to figure out how that happened. I'm like the worlds worst speller, and grammer I've totally forgotten. I was thinking about taking a refresher course at my local community college. Plus it will help since I home school as well.

As far as creative writing, I've always loved to write. Been writing stories as long as I can remember. Did my first short story in 3ed grade, got an A+ for it. It's fun, and I love to read, so I guess writing was only natural.

Reader here.  I wanted to be an Archeologist but I didn't follow that dream after seeing the horrified looks from my parents.  I ended up as an English major with minors in World History and At History.  I wrote my butt off back then due to all the papers. I loved creative writing!  So what did I do?  I went to Law School and have spent years writing legalese which I think is the 'destroyer' of creative writing. Gah...if I write 'wheretofore' one more time I think I will urp. There is creative and conniving thought in law because you have to support your position, it's just the writing is so dry and the structure seems ridiculous.  I am actually grateful that I found BTVS and Spike because it led me to fanfic and has awakened a dormant Muse.  I've had this idea for a novel for years and maybe one day I will sit down and start writing it.  I just have to get over this fear that what I write is going to read like a legal brief.  Snore!

I think I may order The Key, so thanks for that heads up.

Shanna

Above described.

Aforementioned

Alleged

GAH!!!

Hereinabove

*screams*

I am a paralegal.  I hate writing briefs.  I hate how they destroy my brain.