Creative writing workshops often sound too easy to accomplish that you just get a load of other prompts, hand them out to the people that show up, and then let them quickly write about them for an hour. Easy to simply write an essay or a book. Sadly most people just don’t publish even their first written draft. I’ve seen plenty of people that have a talent or a skill but never get beyond the writing phase. Perhaps this is because they haven’t found the right structure to help them create a structure that will allow them to develop their ideas into a solid manuscript.
It doesn’t have to be this way! I encourage you, as a writer, and a reader, to use a creative writing workshop. Workshops are excellent at helping budding authors to develop the structure that they need in order to allow them to turn their creative ideas into a polished manuscript. Workshops are also great at allowing experienced authors to refresh their own writing and experience new techniques and ways of developing characters and developing plots and themes. And let’s face it, if your story has a magic twist, it probably needs a sequel, right?
So, what should you look for in a workshop and how can you best prepare for a session with an established writer? Well, one thing you should do is think about what kind of material you would like to read and talk about. What topics appeal to you or are important to you. Are you interested in learning more about ancient mythology or current pop-culture? Perhaps you’re interested in writing about animals or death. Maybe it’s all about writing.
It’s important to find out if you’d like to be involved with an established writer or an author starting out in the craft. I would suggest that you go to a writers workshop run by someone who has been around the block long enough to know what to look for in a workshop and what not to do. It’s important to get recommendations for a workshop from someone you admire and someone who knows you and your work. There is no better way to get that approval than from someone you admire and trust. You can also check online for a list of workshops. The writers who use these resources are usually very professional and know their stuff.
Look for a writers group or workshop run by a teacher with years of experience. If possible, try to talk to some of the other participants of the group or workshop. See how experienced they are and what they have done to get to where they are. You can learn a lot just by talking to other writers and getting an inside view of what a creative writing major can expect once he or she begins.
A creative writing major will have a few choices when it comes to schools to attend after he or she finishes their education. They can go to a local college and major in creative writing or they can attend a university or community college and major in something like journalism, creative writing, or poetry. At the community college, writers can elect to take classes such as composition, creative writing fundamentals, and much more. They may even elect to take courses that focus on specific topics.
If you would rather be able to do more than one thing, then you might want to consider a degree in a creative writing class that also deals with the creative writing craft. You can take all the classes you want to, but the one thing you cannot take is a degree in the same subject as somebody else in your field. For this reason, you will probably want to find a university that offers courses within your field of interest so you can work around everything. Many creative writing students take a semester off during the year and just do a guest blog post for a local newspaper while attending school.
You can either be a writer or a blogger. If you want to be a writer, you can start applying to writing jobs in online publications. This will give you enough experience to give you a foot in the door and hope your foot will in fact lock in a permanent position when you have finished your education. For those who prefer to be bloggers, the best way to get your name out there is to start hosting a blog on an established blog site or you can do freelance work for other freelancers. Freelance work usually means working for less money than you would otherwise, so you can always keep your blog on your side to earn extra money.
