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<blockquote data-quote="takyris" data-source="post: 222329" data-attributes="member: 5171"><p><strong>Ditto</strong></p><p></p><p>I've got some professional short story publications and went through school as an English major with a creative writing emphasis -- and my school was really seriously VERY not into the whole genre deal.</p><p></p><p>Possibly because I am at heart a hack, I had a term for the kind of stories they wanted to see: Bad Sex and Dead Relatives.</p><p></p><p>That's what most of the stories were by the intermediate and advanced classes, because anything you wrote that was different got torn to shreds. The teachers really only responded to Bad Sex and Dead Relatives.</p><p></p><p>Looking back on it, my guess is that they were trying to get people to really write from the heart, and when you're an undergrad, most of the time there are only two major life-changing events that have happened to you that are really worth talking about. You guessed it: Bad Sex or Dead Relatives.</p><p></p><p>You have your first sexual experience, and it's not happy. You realize that you haven't been in love with your spouse for a long time and that you aren't attracted to them. Your father dies, and you are sad. Your father dies, and you feel guilty because you don't think you feel sad enough. Your father dies because he caught you having bad sex with someone, and you feel all conflicted and stuff.</p><p></p><p>The one bright spot was a writing class called Science Fiction Writing. Unlike the other classes, which were taught by faculty, this class was taught by actual paid writers who lived in the real world and wrote books that real people wanted to read. They had discussions like, "How to prepare a manuscript to send out," "How to deal with contracts if you get an acceptance letter," "How to construct a plot," and other useful stuff, as opposed to, "Write not from your heart, but from the ESSENCE of your heart," which is prettty much what the Bad-Sex-Dead-Relative people were telling me.</p><p></p><p>My two cents -- and hey, first post on ENWorld!</p><p></p><p>-Tacky</p></blockquote><p></p>
[QUOTE="takyris, post: 222329, member: 5171"] [b]Ditto[/b] I've got some professional short story publications and went through school as an English major with a creative writing emphasis -- and my school was really seriously VERY not into the whole genre deal. Possibly because I am at heart a hack, I had a term for the kind of stories they wanted to see: Bad Sex and Dead Relatives. That's what most of the stories were by the intermediate and advanced classes, because anything you wrote that was different got torn to shreds. The teachers really only responded to Bad Sex and Dead Relatives. Looking back on it, my guess is that they were trying to get people to really write from the heart, and when you're an undergrad, most of the time there are only two major life-changing events that have happened to you that are really worth talking about. You guessed it: Bad Sex or Dead Relatives. You have your first sexual experience, and it's not happy. You realize that you haven't been in love with your spouse for a long time and that you aren't attracted to them. Your father dies, and you are sad. Your father dies, and you feel guilty because you don't think you feel sad enough. Your father dies because he caught you having bad sex with someone, and you feel all conflicted and stuff. The one bright spot was a writing class called Science Fiction Writing. Unlike the other classes, which were taught by faculty, this class was taught by actual paid writers who lived in the real world and wrote books that real people wanted to read. They had discussions like, "How to prepare a manuscript to send out," "How to deal with contracts if you get an acceptance letter," "How to construct a plot," and other useful stuff, as opposed to, "Write not from your heart, but from the ESSENCE of your heart," which is prettty much what the Bad-Sex-Dead-Relative people were telling me. My two cents -- and hey, first post on ENWorld! -Tacky [/QUOTE]
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