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In previous threads the topic of education has been discussed at length. The concensus was that a balanced diet of formal education and personal experience produce the best results (generally speaking here). Without rehashing that whole conversation again I was interested in hearing feedback about hiring an individual tutor. One of my biggest hinderances is in the fact that my formal education is in music, not writing.
The wall I keep slamming into has more to do with having confidence that I am writing 'right' than having material, time, drive, imagination, etc. I have been in on the topic conversations about what defines 'right' and feel like I understand that a 'right way' is definable. Based upon the critique action here at Hatrack, I can be sure that I have a gap in my formal learn'n.
Have you folks utilized private, hired tutors? Does this seem like a waste of time and money?
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Honestly, the best way to learn to write, is to write, and read a lot. This is also what will build your confidence.
While I think it is good to have a close advisor/critiquer who can be truly honest with you, I don't think a tutor is necessarily the answer. That's where writing groups and this forum are good. If you want to get a range of opinion, just join the WotF critique group - if you're considering going for WotF, and you'll get some great feedback. But the range is the important thing. When you have points in a story that everyone keeps catching as a problem, then you know you did something wrong there. The group thing helps you get perspective on your work that a single person can't.
As I said though, I do believe in a good advisor. OSC advocates finding a 'smart' reader and training them to give the kind of critique you're looking for. I haven't 'trained' anyone, but my best reader knows my shortcomings and isn't afraid to point them out.
But if you're at a level where you really feel you need the help, for your own peace of mind, then maybe hire someone to go over one or two of your best stories and see what they say. But as a general rule, I think you can do it on your own - with a little help from your friends.
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I agree with genevive that practice and peer-review are the major tools neede to improve one's writing, but you may also have writing resources available in your community for free.
My local public library employs a "writer-in-residence", a tenured professional author who's duties involve helping less experienced authors with their writing, either via email or by appointment. I've taken advantage of this service and it was an extremely good experience.
They also offer several free writing workshops throughout the year, though you have to pre-register and they fill up fast.
If you happen to be a student, many universities have free writing tutors available. My husband worked in one of these centres a few years ago, and it was a great resource for students.
I would suggest you check your local library, leisure-guide, community centres and universities for free or cheap writing resources if you are still interested in professional guidance.
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My opinion: If your formal education is in music, then you're fine. Music is a performance art, and writing is no different.
Consider musical composition; it's in many ways defined by structure, and that structure is itself defined by the way the audience reacts to the music. And then, the most brilliantly composed piece of music is just a bunch of black dots on the page without a consummate artist to play it - and when they play it with a combination of flawless technical brilliance and their own heartfelt interpretation, it rises above its peers and is noticed by the crowd. A good musician - composer or performer - immerses themselves in music. They never stop listening to it, performing it, teaching it, talking about it. They listen and appreciate music across genres (Ever heard a heavy metal rock band talk about classical music? Ever wonder where they get some of their influences?) And also, interestingly, there are a great many famous musicians who don't have any formal musical training at all.
Writing requires you to be both the composer and the performer. You have to structure a story to evoke a reaction in the reader. You have to perform it flawlessly - for on publication your performance can't be recanted - and with the voice that is truly yours. You don't need formal writing training. You need that same immersion the musician has. Read - and read critically. And when you don't feel you're learning something with the books you're reading, push yourself to read something more challenging. See what other genres are doing, and why they're doing it well.
Personally, I think a music education is a great primer for writing. But it only points the way - the real meat of learning to write must be immersing yourself in the world of literature.
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I've given myself my own MFA by reading all kinds of books on writing (all from recommendations from here - there are many posts on the topic of good books on writing.) And then practicing loads. And reading loads. And putting stories away for extended periods of time and reading them later and realizing that they *don't* suck.
So no, I wouldn't want to pay a tutor. If, however, you're seeking advancement in your own skill level, how about considering a writing workshop instead? Your local library might offer one, or many successful authors offer them, and many conferences include some level of "pro-writer" workshop tracks.
posted
Thanks for the input folks. This subject has come up here at Hatrack in various forms in the past as well as the general answers presented here. I understand and have been practicing all these things. I have my own personal stack of 'How I Done It' books, good ones that have helped me a great deal. I never, ever stop reading, all across the genre spectrum. The writers workshop here in my town is really a gathering of egos that sit around patting each other on the collective back.
As for Hatrack; even though this is one of the coolest sites I know about and the people here are very intelligent and involved, there is a limit to what can be gained by this type of interaction. It is not totally conducive to 'going to the next level' with learning. i.e. - not much follow-up action for ongoing questions. Critique(ing) is not the same as instruction and practice, it leaves you with more questions than answers.
BenM makes a great point about the parallel with music. To take it one step further; As a veteran instructor I have seen droves of guitar players who have done everything they could do to get better but simply could not break over into the 'smooth, seamless, sweet sounding flow' that we associate with the pros. A few come with the 'mojo' already built in, most do not. After a couple of months with me in an intensive hands-on-the-fretboard blitz, they are done with private instructors forever and understand the 'thing' in their bones. As for me, I played professionally for two+ decades before I ever had a single lesson and sure 'nuf I could wail. Been playing now for 40 years and can say that the private study allowed me to fully transcend what I was doing before.
THAT is what I'm talking about. I don't see that happening here or from reading another 'done-it' book. The help I have found at this site has been priceless and on a scale of 1 - 10 is running about 7.5.
It just seems to me that a little one on one time with someone trained in the craft would allow me to direct the focus and solve some of my lingering problems.
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It sounds like what you need is someone experienced to do an intensive line-edit and construction-edit with you, making examples of part of your work, then using the rest as homework ("See how I fixed that? Go thou and fix the rest.") When I first started writing I was in a group where that's what basically we did, under the strict eye of a creative writing professor.
It does come easier if you have a really solid grasp of grammar, to where it's automatic.
Diagramming sentences is useful, because it'll show you right away where you've got something overstuffed. In my observation, overstuffing is the usual issue as people try to figure out this "show not tell" thing, and add all sorts of spurious "to me" and "in it" and "I saw that" and "he felt that" ... which will dangle off one end or the other of the diagram, making the trim point obvious.
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Reziac - Now that is exactly what I'm talking about. I don't have any volunteers so it seems hired help is the best option. I was wondering if anyone around here has had any experience with private tutors or such things.
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Terry Edge is a very good writer (as "T. D. Edge" -- Google will turn up a couple of his stories online) and a longtime editing-services provider. He's given me excellent feedback, and his rates are very reasonable.
Let's see...(dig, dig)...here's some info and an e-mail link for him:
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DRaney, I suppose I have what is considered a formal education in literature - I have about 40 hours of college credits in English, but not the right classes for a degree (I might now, but not when I graduated). It's a long story, which involved me changing my major the second half of my junior year. That said, there is something to be gained by direct instruction, but most of what I know about grammar, punctuation, etc. came from grammar books and being forced to complete practices at the end of each section.
You can go to a local college and purchase a decent grammar book - I haven't seen one elsewhere, except for The Chicago Manual of Style, which I do not believe has a practice section. Even then, modern fiction does not follow grammar and punctuation rules precisely. I believe it is useful information to know, but not a necessity in today's literary environment.
It has been twenty years since I graduated from college, and some of what I learned has become foggy at best. I went many years without writing or communicating with other writers. Hatrack has been very instrumental in reviving and clarifying past knowledge. If I were you, I would not hire a tutor, but instead, invest in a decent grammar book and thesaurus. It sounds like you have been reading other types of writing books dealing with theme and style; I suspect these steps, as well as finding a very reliable first reader, would be sufficient.
[This message has been edited by philocinemas (edited March 05, 2011).]
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Terry charges 30 pounds (he's in England) an hour, but he'll give your story (up to a few thousand words) a first read-through and feedback for free, so you can judge whether you want to go further with his help. He's a very nice guy, perhaps too nice for his pocketbook. :-)
(I don't know Terry, by the way, other than because I approached him for writing feedback.)
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On Chicago and Cherryh: I think Chicago's great. I use it all the time in my work (I'm a translator and editor of translated text), and I find them to be down-to-earth, practical, flexible, and very common sense. I think Cherryh's just got a bug up her butt.
Posts: 381 | Registered: Oct 2010
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I don't necessarily like all the changes that have been made to standard English, but The Chicago is the standard that makes all the changes:
quote:Recently various American publishers adopted the Chicago manual of style as the official standard for their copyeditors. - C.J. Cherryh
Also:
quote:Even then, modern fiction does not follow grammar and punctuation rules precisely. I believe it is useful information to know, but not a necessity in today's literary environment. - Philo
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