Nat
asked
James Islington:
Hi! I'm a huge fan of both series you've written. What advice would you give to someone who doesn't have a creative writing background but who wants to get into fantasy writing? I have a background in social sciences and have been working on a fantasy series of my own, and I'm debating if it's necessary to study creative writing. Thank you!
James Islington
Thank you!
I certainly don’t think it’s necessary to formally study creative writing; my experience is that if you generally enjoy reading, a lot of the things you’d learn from a course are things that you would likely already do on instinct when crafting a story. My own experience was taking a creative writing course at university, and then quitting after three semesters because it felt like I was just putting energy into assignments, rather than writing what I wanted to (and feeling like I would have learned the same things either way). Not to say that great courses don’t exist, or can’t be useful – but I definitely don’t think they’re a prerequisite.
Generally speaking, I’d say the best way to spend your time is just to dive in and get words down on paper, even if it’s incredibly messy to start with (it certainly was for me). There are also great online resources you can check out while you do that – for example, when I started writing, I listened to a lot of the ‘Writing Excuses’ podcast with Brandon Sanderson. It was great as a companion to writing, rather than a specific ‘learn and then do’ type experience. I believe all the episodes are still online, so it’s really worth going back to Season 1 and giving it a listen if you have the opportunity.
I hope that helps, and all the best with your writing!
I certainly don’t think it’s necessary to formally study creative writing; my experience is that if you generally enjoy reading, a lot of the things you’d learn from a course are things that you would likely already do on instinct when crafting a story. My own experience was taking a creative writing course at university, and then quitting after three semesters because it felt like I was just putting energy into assignments, rather than writing what I wanted to (and feeling like I would have learned the same things either way). Not to say that great courses don’t exist, or can’t be useful – but I definitely don’t think they’re a prerequisite.
Generally speaking, I’d say the best way to spend your time is just to dive in and get words down on paper, even if it’s incredibly messy to start with (it certainly was for me). There are also great online resources you can check out while you do that – for example, when I started writing, I listened to a lot of the ‘Writing Excuses’ podcast with Brandon Sanderson. It was great as a companion to writing, rather than a specific ‘learn and then do’ type experience. I believe all the episodes are still online, so it’s really worth going back to Season 1 and giving it a listen if you have the opportunity.
I hope that helps, and all the best with your writing!
More Answered Questions
Kelvin
asked
James Islington:
In Will of the Many you referenced the “Catalan Games” and that Ianix was the champion. Since there is a Catalan region in our world, is this a reference to that, or is it an Easter egg, or am I over thinking it? Loved this book so much and counting down the days to SOTF!!
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