Writing Fundamentals - First Class

I’ve taken another plunge and signed up for back to back writing courses with Writers & Artists. The process of writing is nothing like I’d expected it to be when I first started about eight years ago. From staring at a blank screen as I waited for ‘inspiration’ to hit me, to here, there have been a lot of mistakes, obstacles, and lessons learned. But I feel like I need some more. It’s been incredibly hard to find people to give feedback on my existing novel, and whilst I am grateful for those few who took the time to do this (even with rewrites!), I’m still struggling with tightening down the plot.

The way I see it, paying for these two courses gives me a captive audience of other writers, and as a bonus, I get to see how other people write their novels. Tonight’s the night, and my novel is first in the workshop to be run through the gauntlet. It’s going to be tough seeing Damaskopolis ripped to shreds, but worth the honest and fair critique that will make it the fun and gripping novel I want it to be.

I could have abandoned it and started any number of other story ideas in my head, but I figured this will be my flagship. I’ll make my mistakes and learning with it, I’ll polish it until it’s gleaming, and when the time comes, I’ll publish it as an e-book if I have to. But at least it’ll be something someone enjoys reading and turning from page to page. If I can accomplish that. If this ends up being the one book to my name, then it’ll be a cracker of a story for a reader, and I’ll be glad.