24 April 2010

Finished the Class

I completed the Anastasia Suen writing class I took. I enjoyed it. Each week I had to read three books - which wasn't difficult - and then do the homework assignment. We analyzed first chapters, themes (which I was never good at in high school but have somehow figured out) and voice.

My favorite lesson covered story beats. When I do my own writing, I don't outline. I find outlines restrictive, and I never end up following them anyway. I was always the person on school who wrote the paper and then wrote the outline when one was required. That just worked better for me.

But the story beats were different. They function as an outline but can work equally well for forming the structure of the book. I'm going to go over some of my writing and apply a "beat sheet" to it. Just another way of polishing.

I plan to take the second half of the class beginning in June. I'm already looking forward to it.

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