gillpolack @ 2015-11-10T13:02:00
I've just got back from a lovely overnight stay at the South Coast. The Fellowship of Australian Writers there asked if I would give a workshop on worldbuilding. This is the third time that I've used the results of my research to fuel a workshop. Third time, third very different group of writers. Same result.
1) It's a very useful set of concepts for writers.
2) It opens up discussion, rather than closing it off.
The obvious corollary is that research done by working with writers translates far more easily into teaching writers (even though that was not the purpose of the research or even the subject of the research) than research of writing done from the literary end.
More and more I am someone who enjoys working with other writers and helping them find out what they want to say and exploring ways of telling their stories. I especially love it when writers who know what they're doing get an 'aha' moment. Those moments justify all those years of work.
While I envy the togetherness of those who can divide research from teaching, I am not one of them. Teaching is such a fundamental part of the equation. I enjoy it a great deal. This is a good thing, for I have teaching today and teaching tomorrow, it being that time of year. Three entirely different subjects and three entirely different student groups.
Tonight is all about medieval magic. We talked about principles and learned magic last week. Tonight we're going to take the religious element one step further and move on from blessings and curses to diminishing demons, the role of Jews in medieval magic systems and look at some sermon literature.
1) It's a very useful set of concepts for writers.
2) It opens up discussion, rather than closing it off.
The obvious corollary is that research done by working with writers translates far more easily into teaching writers (even though that was not the purpose of the research or even the subject of the research) than research of writing done from the literary end.
More and more I am someone who enjoys working with other writers and helping them find out what they want to say and exploring ways of telling their stories. I especially love it when writers who know what they're doing get an 'aha' moment. Those moments justify all those years of work.
While I envy the togetherness of those who can divide research from teaching, I am not one of them. Teaching is such a fundamental part of the equation. I enjoy it a great deal. This is a good thing, for I have teaching today and teaching tomorrow, it being that time of year. Three entirely different subjects and three entirely different student groups.
Tonight is all about medieval magic. We talked about principles and learned magic last week. Tonight we're going to take the religious element one step further and move on from blessings and curses to diminishing demons, the role of Jews in medieval magic systems and look at some sermon literature.
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