Red Rivers Writers Blog Tour
I taught creative writing for three years at the University of Toledo as the Writer-in-Residence, and although I'm a few years removed from that gig--now teaching online for Writer's Digest and coaching writers privately on their novels, I still get emails and phone calls and mail from students I was privileged to teach while there. I just got another email from one of my best private students yesterday (I first met her when she took one of my classes at UT and now I coach her on her novel) and thought folks might be interested in her story. She's a wonderful writer and it just so happens she's a young black woman. Normally, a writer's race wouldn't be notable, but in this case it is, I think.
When she came to my class the first time, she told me that another professor in the department whose classes she'd taken before mine, had told her she needed to quit writing the fantasy novel she'd been working on for years and instead, write about her "black experience." I was dumbfounded, especially since the young student told me she could care less about her so-called "black experience," feeling that all she'd ever had was an "American citizen experience," and what she really enjoyed reading and writing about was fantasy. But, she now had doubts. I told her that I thought this teacher's advice was the silliest I'd ever heard and that she ought to avoid her in the halls or at least turn down her hearing aid when this teacher opened her mouth. What does it matter if she was black or white... or green or purple? Write what you want to write, I told her. If Samuel Delany had had a teacher like this woman had and told him he should only write about his "black experience," and he had been moronic enough to follow this advice, we'd never have gotten to enjoy his wonderful sci-fi books.
Well, my bright young student is finishing her novel (fantasy) and it's brilliant. She's about to begin the process of securing an agent and sending her "baby" out into the world. Not a word in it about any "black experience."
Wonder what this teacher is going to say when her former student's book gets published...
The first rule in teaching should be: Do no harm.
Too bad some folks don't follow this precept.
In my own writing, I'm finishing up a memoir, working title, Adrenaline Junkie. I'm being coached on it by Gail Provost, widow of the late and brilliant author of writer's how-tos, Gary Provost. Gail and I met last summer when I was a guest speaker at two of her workshops, the 10-day Writer's Retreat Workshops in Erlanger, Kentucky, where we hit it off and became fast friends. It covers my childhood and past criminal career, including the time I spent in prison at Pendleton. I'm also writing several new novels, and working on several nonfiction projects, including a new writer's how-to I'm titling A Fiction Writer's Workshop at the Bijou, where I use films to help inform fiction writing techniques. Working also on a new baseball book. My own writing process is perhaps a bit different. I work on a variety of projects simultaneously. Doing so insures I never get writer's block—if I get stuck or bored, I just close down that file and go to another one—and I'm able to maximize every second of my writing time. It's a writing schedule that fits me—I'm ADD--and what some folks don't know is that people with this condition are able to intensely focus on a project and shut everything out, and therefore I'm able to bring all of my attention to whatever I'm working on at the time. If a writer doesn't have ADD, I recommend that you try to get it...
I'm also currently seeking a new agent. Any leads, send 'em on!
I conduct a workshop for writer's groups where I use the movie Thelma & Louise to inform fiction techniques. It takes about four hours and I charge $400 or $20 per participant, whichever is more, plus expenses. If any writing groups are interested please contact me at butchedgerton@comcast.net for details and to answer any questions.
P.S. I also coach writers on their novels. Fee is $100 per hour.
Thanks for having me, April!
Blue skies,
Les Edgerton
Author of the two writers how-tos, Hooked and Finding Your Voice and seven other books. Work of mine has been nominated for or won: the Pushcart Prize, O. Henry Award, Edgar Allan Poe Award (short story category), PEN/Faulkner Award, Jesse Jones Book Award, and the Violet Crown Book Award, among others.
Very nice to see you here, Les! I enjoyed your story about the girl who writes what she wants to write, and not what someone told her she SHOULD write, and I wish the very best for her. They say one should write what one knows best, but one must also write about what's most inspiring. Good for her for standing up for who she is and what she writes. I also like your insight into your own writing style; very similar to mine. Never thought of myself as ADD, but it's just possible. Currently working on many projects at once... I'll keep an eye out for your memoir. Thanks for your story here. Best, Michelle Elvy
Posted by: Michelle Elvy | February 15, 2010 at 02:51 PM