Thursday, August 09, 2007

making it up

I do enjoy my writing classes; the tutor is both helpful and approachable, and my classmates are friendly and supportive.

It's hard work though, and for some reason I always feels uncomfortably warm there. It's possible that they've got the central heating on too high. Or, something about effort of creating believable characters and putting them into believable (yet interesting) situations - in public - is bringing out hot flushes in me. I haven't had to deal with self-consciously red faces since I stopped drinking, and it's not something I miss.

But I digress, as they say. Last night we were shown a general structure for a short story, and our exercise was to brainstorm a story around a single main character, along those guidelines and working in pairs. My character seemed destined to end up in a mother-daughter relationship type of story, but by the end of the session she'd nearly become involved in a fight with a P-addled almost-son-in-law.

That's what collaboration's all about I suppose.

8 comments:

Determinist said...

That sounds like a great class. I have to get the details from you for the next time there is one going on.

Right now, it's all trial and error.

Angela said...

It is hard to think in a hot room

Violet said...

determinist: I've not done any writing classes before so I can't compare it with them, but this one is definitely inspiring me to work at writing stories.

angela: it sure is, especially if you're self conscious about having a pink face.

Ms Mac said...

'Scuse me Miss, what's P-addled? I take it it's not good.

Anonymous said...

P-addled? Please explain for us plebs? :) E.

Violet said...

ms mac and elizaf: P is what we Kiwis call methamphetamine. Not that I know much about recreational drugs, but apparently this stuff makes you a bit hyper and lose grip on reality.

glomgold said...

I am no writer, but, and despite the red-faced embarrassment scenario you've just described, class sounds interesting. I think I want to take some again. Creative ones, not this work type garbage. Better to feel blood flowing in one's brain/head/face than to feel nothing up there at all which is the route I'm heading down.

Violet said...

glomgold: Yep it definitely feels like I'm stretching those brain cells.