Those who have taken classes from me at Lane Community College know I’ve been trying to teach three courses two nights per week. That is, I offer novel writing every term, but I’ve alternated Memoir and Essay writing, and it’s been complicated. First I tried asking the schedulers to alternate the courses. The offerings were routinely screwed up. Then I hit upon the idea of calling the course “Creative Nonfiction,” and alternating the Memoir and Essay by term. Lots of confused students, who either didn’t understand the Creative Nonfiction tag or else they wanted the course I wasn’t teaching. So back to the drawing board. I think I’ll try adding a third class, The Business of Writing (a course on how to submit, find markets, write queries and synopses and other aspects of publishing for Spring term and see how that goes. I’d like to hear from students past and present, on this issue.
Writing Tip for Today: Even class descriptions can confuse a reader. In your writing, strive to be concise. Learn to show and try not to explain. If that doesn’t work, go back and rewrite again until it does work. The writing business requires lots of word count. Get your BIC and write.