Wednesday, August 27, 2014

Can You Learn Creative Writing? or The Story of How I Got a Little bit Better

Next Monday I am starting my masters in creative writing (don't worry I am not giving up my day job) so I wanted to tell you a little bit about my experience so far.

As a kid I loved movies and making up stories with my G.I. Joes (UK: Action Man) but I didn’t read much. Books just didn’t do it for me. Comics’ sure but not books. This changed when I was eleven when someone, most likely my mom, found a copy of The Hobbit translated into Icelandic. I ate up that book and loved every bit. The very next week I created my own fantasy and even wrote eleven pages that are now sadly lost but since then I have been writing and as the years have gone by I have gotten a little bit better.

When I was young I started three or four books that were never finished (although I plan to write my epic space opera one of these days). The strange thing was that for the longest time I believed the stupidest things. For example:
  • That if I showed strangers my works they would steal the ideas but this was probably due to shyness.
  • I could not write because my spelling was so bad and there wasn’t any room for improvement.
  • I also thought that no one would be interested in the stories I had to tell as SFF was almost never translated into Icelandic but I continued to write mostly for myself. 
  • If someone taught me to write I would lose my own voice and become part of the establishment that never hand any original ideas. 
Thankfully most people know that these notions are pretty childish but I have heard young or inexperienced writers talking about similar worries. Ray Bradbury said that studying writing was a waste of time and that your time would be better spent writing and honing your craft. This is in many ways true. Reading and writing a lot is necessary if you want to become a better writer. I myself try to write for at least two hours every day and read a hundred books or more each year (audiobooks count too).

In the early 00's I started to write a lot. I stopped focusing on large manuscripts that I couldn’t finish and focused more on short stories. Everything I wrote I submitted on an Icelandic writing website were the works could be criticized and commented upon. Some people liked the stories while other did not. But none of the comments helped me evolve as a writer although at the time I didn’t realize it. I just kept on writing and learned how to become more disciplined and even finished my first 50.000+ word manuscript.

After I completed my master's degree things came to a complete halt. I always wanted to write but I had a demanding career and no extra time. The financial collapse of 2008 changed that. I was fired from my banking job but was lucky enough to get a new one quickly but there wasn't much to do at the new office so I started to write again. In mid-2011 I saw an ad from a small publisher in Iceland and sent them my novel. The liked it and together we tried to make the story as good as possible. 

It was through this process of editing with another person that my writing really started to improve. After I published my book and was more open to new ideas. I actively started looking for courses on writing. In the last year I signed up for three writing courses, attended two conventions on writing and watched lots of lectures on YouTube and my craft has continued to improve. I might not be great but I am always getting better and it is my hope that my master's studies will help me even more. Who knows? Maybe one day I can make a living doing this. 

So in conclusion it is my opinion that reading and writing are very important but there are also many other things that can help. There are many course, lectures, websites, books and advice out there. Look at whatever you find but use your own judgment to assess if it something that might suit you.  


P.S. I plan to use this blog to improve my English writing skills, so all comments are appreciated.

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