OMG I'm back at Uni after 30 years
So, the enormity of doing a Masters Degree in creative writing, at 50, has just hit me.
I have this MASSIVE book to study from, with work sheets and stuff.
I have to write proper stories, where I have to be super creative, and because I am stupidly competitive I want to get really good marks in everything.
So from now on, it's head down and away I go.
The bonus is, that by doing this, it will encourage me to write more on here as well. Hopefully.
One of the first things I read, was advice for someone who wants to be a writer. They suggested the best thing to do is to just sit down and write.
What you write, may be rubbish and complete gibberish, but there may be a tiny gem, a little diamond, something worth keeping, and there it is, your first draft, or your first idea.
I need to stop worrying about creating something perfect from the outset and work on the principle that, after a million and one re-writes, I might actually have written something, someone else might want to read, and with a following wind, enjoy.
Now that would be lovely.
Officially, my course doesn't start until the 6th October, but there is pre-reading and activities to be getting on with, whilst all the time, trying to think of ideas of what to write about.
One thing I wonder about is what genre will I write in?
I doubt I will be a historical novel type, although I loved reading the Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson, which is set in the 17th century and about the Icelandic people being taking as slaves by the Turkish people.
I like a bit of sci-fi and fantasy, and enjoy the books of Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett (I am beside myself waiting for the TV series of Good Omens to come out). I loved American Gods, that is definitely my kind of thing. Similarly, I loved Weaveworld and the Hellraiser books by Clive Barker. (Weirdly, I can't watch horror, but I can read it).
But, I think I prefer a gentler approach where it is still fantasy but so close to reality you aren't quite sure if it's real or not. I just finished the Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, which I loved, it is set completely in reality, but one thing has happened that influences the outcome of the characters but the thing that has happened, can't be real...can it? I like that.
As a child I read voraciously, I don't remember learning to read, and was reading books meant for adults by the end of primary school. I loved Swallows and Amazons and all the Little Women books.
When I did my degree, my favourite books were the Gothic novels, I preferred these to the long and meandering novels of Thomas Hardy and George Elliot that I had to read as well, I didn't enjoy the massive descriptions of a field or a tree or a hill, I just wanted them to get on with the story. Having said that, I loved/love Wuthering Heights where the heath is as much a part of the story as Cathy and Heathcliff.
I love reading, being in another world, I am completely immersed.
I just hope I can do that for someone else, I want to be able to create something a person can get lost in, something that can make you forget your day to day worries, and just be part of what you are reading, imagining the sea spraying salty mist on your face as you roam the seven seas, or parched in a desert searching for the holy grail, or whatever, I want to write a book where you forget everything else and you are part of it, inside it, completely and utterly engrossed.
No pressure then.
If you liked this please like and share - Thanks
I have this MASSIVE book to study from, with work sheets and stuff.
I have to write proper stories, where I have to be super creative, and because I am stupidly competitive I want to get really good marks in everything.
So from now on, it's head down and away I go.
The bonus is, that by doing this, it will encourage me to write more on here as well. Hopefully.
One of the first things I read, was advice for someone who wants to be a writer. They suggested the best thing to do is to just sit down and write.
What you write, may be rubbish and complete gibberish, but there may be a tiny gem, a little diamond, something worth keeping, and there it is, your first draft, or your first idea.
I need to stop worrying about creating something perfect from the outset and work on the principle that, after a million and one re-writes, I might actually have written something, someone else might want to read, and with a following wind, enjoy.
Now that would be lovely.
Officially, my course doesn't start until the 6th October, but there is pre-reading and activities to be getting on with, whilst all the time, trying to think of ideas of what to write about.
One thing I wonder about is what genre will I write in?
I doubt I will be a historical novel type, although I loved reading the Sealwoman's Gift by Sally Magnusson, which is set in the 17th century and about the Icelandic people being taking as slaves by the Turkish people.
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| Some of the books I've read recently |
I like a bit of sci-fi and fantasy, and enjoy the books of Neil Gaimen and Terry Pratchett (I am beside myself waiting for the TV series of Good Omens to come out). I loved American Gods, that is definitely my kind of thing. Similarly, I loved Weaveworld and the Hellraiser books by Clive Barker. (Weirdly, I can't watch horror, but I can read it).
But, I think I prefer a gentler approach where it is still fantasy but so close to reality you aren't quite sure if it's real or not. I just finished the Immortalists by Chloe Benjamin, which I loved, it is set completely in reality, but one thing has happened that influences the outcome of the characters but the thing that has happened, can't be real...can it? I like that.
As a child I read voraciously, I don't remember learning to read, and was reading books meant for adults by the end of primary school. I loved Swallows and Amazons and all the Little Women books.
When I did my degree, my favourite books were the Gothic novels, I preferred these to the long and meandering novels of Thomas Hardy and George Elliot that I had to read as well, I didn't enjoy the massive descriptions of a field or a tree or a hill, I just wanted them to get on with the story. Having said that, I loved/love Wuthering Heights where the heath is as much a part of the story as Cathy and Heathcliff.
I love reading, being in another world, I am completely immersed.
I just hope I can do that for someone else, I want to be able to create something a person can get lost in, something that can make you forget your day to day worries, and just be part of what you are reading, imagining the sea spraying salty mist on your face as you roam the seven seas, or parched in a desert searching for the holy grail, or whatever, I want to write a book where you forget everything else and you are part of it, inside it, completely and utterly engrossed.
No pressure then.
If you liked this please like and share - Thanks
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