Rules, Rules, Rules

A blog post takes me about fifteen minutes once the idea pops into my head. Writing a short story takes quite a bit longer. Especially if you follow the rules.

That’s the main thing I learned in my online writing class. There are rules. Rules that seem to take the joy out of writing from the heart.

But I guess it’s good to know the rules. Even if you don’t follow them.

My first assignment was to write a 250-500 word story using all five senses to describe things. No problem. I have no problem finding the words. I do have a problem with a particular word count limit. I can get really wordy – you probably know that about me already!

In my second assignment I had to interview someone. I learned from this experience that I definitely need to carry a voice recorder with me if I ever plan to interview anyone. So as to not inaccurately quote someone!

The purpose of assignment three was to give me an idea of the structure of a story. I focused on creating a hook – a grabber lead to a story. I had the hook. But apparently I didn’t have the internal conflict figured out. My instructor gave some very thought-provoking comments and set me on a search for my internal conflict.

I searched all week. Submitting assignment four, I felt slightly confident I had found it. But alas, I didn’t. My instructor again poked away at my brain, sending me back to the drawing board to find my internal conflict to interject into the story.

Rewriting parts of assignment four, she was happy with my changes. At last the conflict was identified!!

Assignment five was a big one. 1500 words - using all rules learned. I worked on it for a long time. I submitted it, not quite sure that it was written correctly. And I was right. I found the conflict, but now I need to define the form. Whose story was it? Mine? Was I going to write it as a personal experience, personal essay, as-told-to, or profile in third person?

CONFUSED, I went back to the drawing board and made the changes I could and resubmitted the same story for the sixth and last assignment.

In the end, my instructor told me a lot about myself. She commented, “You are a strong storyteller. Your storytelling skills are evident in this piece as you use dialogue to build your scenes and create suspense for the reader. But you do need to decide on the form and whose story you really want to write.”

So I finished my online non-fiction writing class a bit smarter, but unfortunately, a bit less enthusiastic about having the ability needed to write a book. And a bit less enthusiastic about writing being enjoyable. I’m currently contemplating if I would like to take another class from her this fall.

But blog posts are much easier.

Oops, this post just went over 500 words. Wordy me.