Learning experience, by Thomas H. Cook
Several years ago I was invited to teach at the Maui Writers Conference on, you guessed it, Maui. Not a bad gig, right? I immediately accepted, and I should quickly say that the entire experience was fabulous.
I had ten students, most of them middle-aged, and all of them quite dedicated to the novels they were writing. Some of these students had been working on their novels for many years. Others had just begun their books. Some of the writers were quite good, others less so, and one was simply abysmal.
I had never taught what is generically known as “creative writing” before, and the first thing I noticed was how much the worst writers in the group – yeah, even that guy – had to teach the best writers in the group.
Without going “woo woo,” I must admit that the class truly became a shared experience. In fact, the students were so quick to help each other, and so generous – and often accurate – with their criticism, that I left Maui with a somewhat less cynical view of mankind, which, by the way, is a stretch for me.
Teachers also learn during the course of teaching, and one of the things I learned at Maui was that writers often do not feel empowered as writers. What I mean is that they fail to realize that they are the actual creators of all the people and events within their own novels.
For example, I had one student who opened his book with a scene in which a body washes up on shore. This body is seen by the main character. I mentioned that perhaps there should be a bit more description of this body. The writer said that this was impossible.
“Why?” I asked.
“Because the body washed up too far away from the book’s narrator for him to see it with much detail,” he replied.
“What?” I blurted, “All you have to do is wash that body up closer to your narrator.”
That the writer had such power over his own creation was news to this student, and it immediately changed his approach to his work. Suddenly, the writer was in charge.
Beginning in February, I will be teaching again, this time a course in writing crime fiction at the Center for Fiction in New York. I have no doubt that during those classes I will encounter new astonishments, some of which I hope to pass along in coming weeks. So as they say, stay turned.
Thomas H. Cook is the author of nearly two dozen critically lauded crime novels, 11 of which have been published through MysteriousPress.com. You can find them at this link.
