Creative Writing

[The Kontaminator]

I'm looking for others opinions on so-called 'creative writing' courses
available.

I've always enjoyed writing and now I want to take more steps with doing
something about it.

I requested information on 'The Writers Bureau' as it 'appeared' to be
the most comprehensive during my Google search marathon! I have received
4 mailings from them over the course of 6 weeks, they just seem
'desperate' for me to part with £300 and bombard me with testimonials,
which frankly anyone could make up for marketing purposes. They also
seem focussed on the earnings you could make, which surely to a true
creative writer isn't the motivation!?!

I'm not certain which area of 'writing' I would like to partake in,
though have written 'pilot' episodes of situation comedies, a 90 minute
stand up comedy routine and some short stories at my leisure over the
past 6 years. I would like some opportunities to flex my writing skill
and get opinions from people in the know and with the security that
nobody is going to 'rob' my material.

Would anyone recommend The Writers Bureau, or are there any other
organisations I should be looking at to proceed with my desire to write
creatively, and hopefully get published some day?

Any thoughts and opinions would be most appreciated.

Thank you in advance.

[JF]

Post by The Kontaminator
Would anyone recommend The Writers Bureau, or are there any other
organisations I should be looking at to proceed with my desire to write
creatively, and hopefully get published some day?

Follow Robert Heinlein' simple rules.

1) Write something.

2) Finish it.

3) Sent it to someone.

4) Keep repeating (1) to (3).

[FCS]

Post by The Kontaminator
I'm looking for others opinions on so-called 'creative writing' courses
available.
I've always enjoyed writing and now I want to take more steps with doing
something about it.
I requested information on 'The Writers Bureau' as it 'appeared' to be
the most comprehensive during my Google search marathon! I have received
4 mailings from them over the course of 6 weeks, they just seem
'desperate' for me to part with £300 and bombard me with testimonials,
which frankly anyone could make up for marketing purposes. They also
seem focussed on the earnings you could make, which surely to a true
creative writer isn't the motivation!?!
I'm not certain which area of 'writing' I would like to partake in,
though have written 'pilot' episodes of situation comedies, a 90 minute
stand up comedy routine and some short stories at my leisure over the
past 6 years. I would like some opportunities to flex my writing skill
and get opinions from people in the know and with the security that
nobody is going to 'rob' my material.
Would anyone recommend The Writers Bureau, or are there any other
organisations I should be looking at to proceed with my desire to write
creatively, and hopefully get published some day?
Any thoughts and opinions would be most appreciated.
Thank you in advance.

As you seem to be posting from an ntl address it's safe to assume
you're somewhere near civilisation, albeit I have no idea whether
you've transport or are physically able to travel. Certainly the firm
you mention take out expensive ads with fairly high-circulation
periodicals in the UK and have done for years, meaning they have
trading and advertising standards to keep in mind. So if they claim to
have trained and honed published writers then this has to be the
truth.

In some senses, if the whole point of writing is purely for the fun of
it then why do you want to show it anyone in the first place?

Don't be misled by the FAQ here. I gather the idea was to brace people
for rejection from publishers who tend only to send a short, generally
polite if insincere, pro forma by way of declining.

Have you checked what self-help books there are in your local public
library for writing? Or what short courses or evening classes there
may be via local colleges and councils? What volutary groups of
enthusiasts there may be meeting locally who get featured in the local
papers' diary columns where knitting circles and model railway clubs
and astronomy groups and suchlike list their forthcoming activities.

When the group was set up, and I had nothing to do with that, USENET
was a bustling place so busy that it was only the Moore effect which
guaranteed its continuation, what with bandwidth concerns and so
forth. These days it's pretty quiet.

There is still a certain amount of activity over on the alt.*
hierarchy in the various alt.fiction groups. Assuming you can navigate
your way up, I'll stick a link to the general one here--your question
will probably go down quite well there, but it is an international
group so it may be a bit much to expect discussion to focus on the
particular company you mention.

news:alt.fiction.original

There are other alt.fiction groups but, if your motivation is to write
creatively for fun, and you have the same respect for others' ideas
you express concern about where your own are concerned, it would be
jumping the gun somewhat to assume it is any kind of shark-infested
scamland!

I don't know too much about it. I knocked up a few pieces quite
quickly a few months back and the comments I got back were ballpark
for people who are trying to feedback to a screenful of text from the
real textural complex and involved realities they themselves inhabit.

Whatever you do, DO read the FAQ.

Or, to put it another way,

* DON'T post science fiction there - there's a group for it
* DON'T post fan fiction there - there's a group for it
* DON'T post X-rated stuff there (but don't shy away from treating
life as the broad spectrum it really is either) - there's a group for
it.

You obviously have a basic grasp of the mechanics of writing -
sentences, spelling, capital letters, commas, apostrophes and suchlike
- so I'd just wade right in if I were you and you really can't be
bothered to read the FAQ. And, no I'm not being sarcastic. Various
people have tried to get things going here from time to time and I
think we're all agreed there simply isn't sufficient interest in this
particular group for it to be massively worthwhile. If half a dozen
people had sprung out of the woodwork and contributed it would maybe
have been a different story. But they didn't.

Good luck. And thanks for trying here.

G DAEB
COPYRIGHT (C) 2008 SIPSTON
--

[Blue Sow]

Post by FCS
periodicals in the UK and have done for years, meaning they have
trading and advertising standards to keep in mind. So if they claim to
have trained and honed published writers then this has to be the
truth.

In the same way that reader's digest keep sending you millions of pounds then.

<snip>

[JF]

X-No-Archive: yes

In message

Post by FCS
In some senses, if the whole point of writing is purely for the fun of
it then why do you want to show it anyone in the first place?

I'm not one of Dr Johnson's blockheads.