HECK YEAH! Tips From Teacher's Pet

author Richard Bard I've been an instructor with the UCLA Writers Program* for a really long time and, for the most part, it has been an incredible experience. I share lessons-learned during a 26 year publishing career and my students give me back a sense of renewed excitement about my craft. That's the way it's supposed to work anyway.  I'll admit, there were a few moments that gave me pause. Like the time one guy stood up and announced he couldn't learn anything from someone who started out writing romances. Before he walked out of class, I hope he heard me suggest that editors don't really care for submissions printed on purple paper and bound.  I wanted to tell him that 237,000 words might be a tad long for commercial fiction, but then what did I know?  There was also the gorgeous young thing who thought my sense of humor lacked – well – humor.  Telling me not to joke around was kind of like asking me to talk without making any noise.  But those students were the exceptions; the rule is students who are dedicated, creative and wonderful.
    Then a student walks through the door who has an idea, a guy who has been writing and, most importantly is prepared to learn. In my case, that student was Richard Bard. His first book, Brainrush, (I think I can take credit for the first line in chapter 3) was an Authonomy finalist. He received a call from a producer before he got a book agent and now Brainrush is climbing the Amazon Kindle lists. To say he is talented and tenacious is an understatement, but thinking about his accomplishment brings me to the question of the day: how did writing classes figure into his professional equation? 
    Thankfully, Richard isn't shy and answered that question with a wonderful email. I won't bore you with the details about how grateful he was for my help and how he acknowledged that he would probably never have gotten as far as he had without the intensive 16 hours of instruction I gave him (that's a joke), but I will share his insights on how to get the most out of writing classes.
    1.      Know your genre. Write what you read – it's in your blood.**
    2.      Read one or two books on writing before you attend a class in order 
             to   quickly understand the language of writing.***
    3.      Research your instructor – she'll notice and it's a lot more subtle than an 
            apple on her desk.****
    4.      Know what you want to get out of the class before you show up.
    5.      Ask a lot of questions the first day. If it's not a good fit – move on.
    6.      When asked to critique in class, don't criticize.
    7.      Make friends with both the instructor***** and your classmates. You're all in
             the same boat looking for a publisher or needing to create buzz for your book. 
            If everyone rows in the same direction, you'll get there quicker.
    I doubt I'll be seeing Richard in class again but I can't wait to see his books on the bestseller list!

*Get Your Novel Noticed: Preparing and Polishing Your Pitch  is offered November 5/6, https://www.uclaextension.edu/UnexDocuments/Pdf/Catalog_PDFs/Writers_Program.pdf
**He's right. Thrillers were my reading passion and became my most successful books.  Keeping Counsel was a USA Today Bestseller and the three Witness series books have been on the Kindle top 100 for 2 years.
***Richard recommends Sol Stein, Stein on Writing
****I like apples, too.
****Richard now writes at my haunt, Coffee Cartel. Talk about taking your work home       
     with you!

Don't miss Richard's fabulous 3-books-for-one offer:   http://richardbard.com/promo/