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So how do you write prose? Any good books you know on the subject? (lemmygrad.ml)

submitted 7 months ago by [email protected] to c/[email protected]

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I got made fun of as a child by a parent for doing art and just... never did any ever afterwards. I primarily hang around artists tho and would like to relate to them more, but none of them do creative writing. I've read numerous grammar books, so that won't be a problem, but none really go in to how to construct a sentence, paragraph, page, chapter, plot, etc. I'll happily take any advice on the subject, really anything you can think for someone with actually zero experience.

Good advice I've gotten so far is to just write basically whatever. Also, people who are visual artists and creative writers, which was "easier" for you to become fluent?

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[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (5 children)

I’m sorry if I’m being a dick or elitist but your best bet is college, even if it’s community college. It’s the type of thing that you need someone giving you structure and making you do homework and grading you and so on.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago (2 children)

Not in the cards, unfortunately. I'm full-time and already have a degree (I'm older). Would collaboration with others serve a similar purpose, or is having someone with greater authority in the subject that important?

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Are you sure? Community colleges allow people to take as many or as few classes as they want, so taking one or two is perfectly fine. It doesn’t matter that you have a degree either, as they take everyone for any reason. You don’t have to dedicate yourself to an associates.

Almost all programs offer evening/night classes or weekend classes, along with fully virtual or zoom classes.

Plus the classes are really cheap and financial aid is very strong while simultaneously offering really good tax credits.

You should look into it if you think it’ll help your passion! Some of the best professors and classes I’ve ever had were at community colleges.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago) (1 children)

Depends on your material conditions, but a tutor is an option if you can afford it.

Also how old is too old? There’s no age limit for schooling, it can just be a course or two that you take, I think formal training holds your feet to the fire to learn. The overwhelming majority of people that self teach do it when they’re motivated but give up anytime one of life’s little difficulties hit them or they learn poorly since they lack professional feedback.

[–] [email protected] 0 points 7 months ago

Initially I was going to disagree and say there are other routes, writing classes, etc. But you and @[email protected] are convincing me.

With enough time, most people could teach themselves anything nowadays. But how much time do you want to spend? And how much time do you want to spend learning how to optimise the learning process? If a reputable course is an option, it could speed things up.

Whether one takes a course or self-teaches, one will need to do a combination of the following at some point in their journey:

read a lot
read widely, prose and poetry, fiction and non-fiction
write a lot
experiment
find a method and software that works for them
learn and attend to grammar, plot, structure, characterisation
learn and attend to function (if it's different to the previous point), which means thinking about what a sentence, paragraph, chapter, etc is supposed to do, then working out how to do that, so that everything written has a purpose
get feedback
learn to respond to and action feedback
get used to rejection
develop a style

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