Your ego will tell you that you don't need it, your pride will tell you that you don't need it, your wallet will tell you that you don't need it. But you DO!
For me, one of the best decisions I ever made was to take creative writing courses. I recognized that just because I was a professional web content writer, it didn't mean I knew how to write a novel. Below are the reasons why you need those courses too. (Yes, even YOU!)
Image by Gerd Altmann
I’ve noticed over the years, that because novel writing is a creative activity, many people think that merely having an English degree or a degree in literature means they automatically know how to write a good novel. Well, I would certainly not contest the fact that such degrees are very helpful when launching a writing career, but there is nothing more helpful than a good, practical creative writing course. Don’t think I’m hinting that college is not important. I went two rounds in that world myself. Nevertheless, what you need to know most if you plan to write a book is not always found in such curriculum. Therefore, even if you graduated with honors, mastered the English language, and can name every great writer since Shakespeare and the works for which he or she is famous, it doesn’t mean you know how to write a great book. If you have no post-secondary schooling at all, you REALLY need creative writing courses.
I always feel bad when I encounter a person who is clearly talented, has a creative mind, and knows how to diagram a sentence like nobody ever diagramed a sentence before, but simply doesn’t know how to make a story come alive.
Don’t misunderstand me, creativity can’t be forced into a one-size-fits-all formula, but one thing you do have to know– and this is what creative writing courses will teach you– is how to organize the information. I can usually tell when an author has talent, but never took the necessary courses to boost their success. This is because the person’s novel typically goes in what I call "a straight line." It’s a never-ending cascade of dialogue and narrative that has no pattern. This is the perfect recipe if your goal is to have readers lose interest halfway through your book. And I know that's not your goal.
Some good souls out there will go back to the beginning and try again, thinking it’s perhaps their fault, but most will bail out a second time and they won’t read your work again. Having an idea, even a really unique and interesting one, isn’t enough. You have to know how to write in an engaging manner that will keep the reader involved rather than bored or confused. This is one of the things creative writing courses teach you.
For example, there is something called scene and sequel, which simply means that you write a scene, and somewhere later on you follow up with an answer to whatever question or conflict that scene centered around. If you learn how to do this pattern correctly, the book flows beautifully, and the reader stays engaged. If you don’t have that pattern mastered, however, the reader gets bored. And we all know what readers do when they get bored.
Instructors for creative writing courses know immediately if your scene and sequel technique needs work, because they will most likely read through an entire chapter and realize that it did nothing to move the story along. It didn’t set anything up for the next chapter, and it didn’t answer anything that happened in the previous chapter. It’s one of the biggest mistakes writers make who think that they don’t need creative instruction. They have a great idea, but don’t how to make it interesting because they haven’t mastered scene and sequel.
Character development is also something that is rarely taught in any course other than creative writing. I’ve read books that had terrific premises, but the characters were so flat and boring I lost track of who was speaking because they all sounded the same. I wasn’t in the character’s head, none of the people in the book seemed real to me, no one stood out as having a distinct personality, and I eventually lost interest in the plot because I didn’t care about the people.
I could probably give 20 examples of simple things like those mentioned above that, if overlooked, can ruin your chances of success when you publish a novel. The wonderful part is, though, is that anyone can learn if they have a creative streak and a basic talent for writing. Even simple courses that can be taken online are invaluable if they address things like character development, pacing and scene and sequel.
Thinking we know everything already is the worst mistake we can make. So be humble. Understand that even if you went to college–and especially if you didn't–you need to learn all the wonderful tips and tricks that take a book from ordinary to extraordinary. If you want to be a novelist, you should want to use everything you have at your disposal to ensure the best possibility for success and taking a creative writing course is the perfect place to start. Write on!