5 Elements Of A Good Creative Writing Course
When talking to people about creative writing courses, two concerns seem to come up again and again. First, can creative writing be taught? Secondly, isn’t there a good chance that tutors on such courses tend to want to create clones of themselves rather than help their students develop their own voice?
My response to the first question is that anything can be taught, and creative writing is no exception. Someone may well be a ‘born writer’ (whatever that means), but they can still benefit from learning more about their craft. That being the case, it stands to reason that the craft can be taught.
The second question is an interesting one. A brilliant writer may not be a great teacher, so there is always the possibility that they will adopt an attitude of ‘this is what worked for me, therefore it must work for everyone else’. In my experience, though, the writers who teach on creative writing courses do so at least partly because they want to share their knowledge and help other (budding) writers to grow.
So to get on to the question posed in the title of this piece, what does make a good creative writing course? I suggest the following:
