[Caitlin]

It looks as if I'll be teaching a creative writing course next fall at the University of Toronto - a "how to write sff&f" thing, in workshop format. I've never taken a creative writing course, let alone a genre-centric one (though I have, thankfully, taught English, which gives me some sort of basic pedagogical grounding!). Part of me isn't even sure you can teach creative writing, or should, or...But participating in an online workshop was a big part of my own coming-of-age as a writer, so I'm quite comfortable with that aspect of the course. Syllabus-wise, I'm figuring: world-building. Characterization. Plot and pacing. Tropes, archetypes and stereotypes (how to work with, around and against them).

That's just a top-of-my-head list. What else do all of you educated genre readers and writers think should be on such a curriculum?

[Sean Wright]

Hi - Caitlin. Congrats on the teaching gig. Thought I'd enter the spirit of your venture here, as no-one has taken up this thread. I'd say, to me at least, setting and imagination would be worthwhile investigating.

Setting for me gives our writing a place and substance. And within that substance of a city or town, for example, or wherever, a lot of atmosphere can be built up, whether its pure descriptive passages, or interwoven within the unfolding narrative throughout the story.

Setting, of course, grounds the reader to where he/she is in terms of geography. There you go, perhaps you could use setting.

Imagination underpins much SFF, from China Mieville way back to Jack Vance's early works. There are many many examples of cutting edge, imaginative writing throughout SFF history, and perhaps an appreciation, with examples of passages by highly regarded exponents of imaginative SFF fiction, might go down well.

regards - Sean

[Dawnstorm]

Hm, I'm not really a pedagogue, but what if you're playing more the moderator than the teacher? The workshop approach is well suited for this.

The basics are "write, read, discuss".

Let the syllabus arise out of the difficulties they have.

Let them describe how they wrote a story; if well done, it will increase their awareness of what they've done, and since others are doing it do, they may get insight into approaches to writing they haven't thought of before.

The great thing about workshops is that it's easy to avoid rule-mongering. But the hard thing, then, is to direct them so they actually learn things, learn to watch themselves, learn that everyone writes differently, find their voice (or voices)...

Syllabus-wise, I'm figuring: world-building. Characterization. Plot and pacing. Tropes, archetypes and stereotypes (how to work with, around and against them).

You're going the tool-box approach here, but how about a "writing stages" centered approach.

How to find ideas? How to refine concepts? How to start writing (how to put the idea onto the page)? How to edit?

All that in the workshop environment, demonstrating that "all paths lead to Rome" (though some lead you to a swamp, and beware those will'o'wisps... ;) ).

It's quite hard, though. (Especially, since often these aren't distinct steps. Ideas are often refined after you start writing...)

[Caitlin]

A nice bit of synchronicity, Sean: I read your setting and imagination comments right after coming up with three components of genre fiction that seem particularly important: mood, momentum and motive. (I generally dislike apparently arbitrary alliteration - ha! - but these three nouns seemed to make sense together). Setting, atmosphere, imagination - "mood" sort of encapsulates all of those - and they all contribute to the distinctivenes of an author's voice, something Dawnstorm mentioned.

Yes, I intend to do much more moderating than instructing! The only reason I'm trying to come up with some tool-boxish elements is because the calendar requires a syllabus, and a fairly specific one at that. I've always resisted an "a-b-c's of writing" approach to my own writing, but it looks as if I'll have to deal in these in the class, even if they're just fairly superficial jumping-off points. Dawnstorm, your stages-of-writing approach sounds great. And the fact that all of the students will be coming into the course with finished or partly finished drafts in their hands will make issues of process very easy to talk about.

Another component of the course is the inevitable "how to get published" one. I'll be able to talk about going the agent-editor-large press publisher route, but I know there are many, many other paths: magazines, small presses, self publishing, print-on-demand...anyone care to comment on these?

[KatG]

You might want to talk to Sean, who runs a small press, Gary Wassner and Kevin Radthorne, who published with a small press, Liam Sharp, who is running graphic & text anthologies, and Maithinon, who I believe has done some magazine work, though I could have that wrong.

[Apophenion]

Caitlin, your students might find Apophenion's Resourcery helpful in terms of promoting their finished works. Getting published is a huge step but, as many authors know, book sales don't always follow immediately.
http://www.ttpsoftware.com/resourcery/index.html

[Caitlin]

I'm all for shameless plugs! And your Resourcery is worthy of much plugging, shameless or otherwise. Thanks for putting up the link! sffworld-ers will be happy to see this site featured prominently, as it should be.

[tordot]

In my experience with creative writing classes in college, some teachers get so caught up with the mechanics of writing that it stifles creativity. It would be great if you could incourage your students to free their minds, like Morpheous with Neo in The Matrix :D and allow their imaginations to run completely wild and out of control.

Many aspiring writers also look to published works to measure their works against and trap themselves within the boundaries these writers have set instead of finding their own path and narrative voice.

Good luck, hopefully you will inspire some of them to be The One within your group.

[Caitlin]

What's always made me dubious about creative writing courses is the emphasis on "how to"s. It seems almost oxymoronic: "mechanics of creativity." I was once dead-set against the idea of studying such things, let alone teaching them - though now I must admit that my dead-set-against-edness has softened somewhat. Thanks to some pretty concrete editorial pointers re: my own drafts, I've realized that there are indeed a few objective ways of enhancing what is essentially, and rightfully, a subjective process. So I hope to take on the mechanics/creativity oxymoron, in the course: present it, work with it, transform it, maybe. As my forum amigo Aldarion would say: vamos a ver... :)

[KatG]

The first couple of weeks, you may be dealing with the debris. That's all the rules, how-to's and various pieces of illogic that your students have picked up about writing fiction or writing sff or publishing and swallowed whole. If you can get them to look beyond that, and see it as using tools to shape what they like, rather than as you giving them blueprints that must be followed to the letter, then they quite often take off on their own.