Creative Writing: Is it Fate?
I found this course syllabus on Creative Writing on-line. It says things like this:
Requiring NO formal training in or experience with creative writing, English 309 introduces you to three major genres of literature, Poetry, Non-Fiction, and Fiction. This eight-week course follows as much as possible the patterns and assignments established in a traditional Creative Writing course.
Beyond making you better writers, this class seeks to enhance your appreciation of the form and content of literature by giving due consideration to topics such as technique, figurative language, structure, tone, point of view, voice, etc. To that end, you will not only write a good deal of literature, but you will also read and discuss numerous poems and short stories contained in The Creative Writing Guide and in various handouts. You will learn, among other things, to distinguish between simple and sophisticated literature.
Now when I do an internet search on “6th sense, superstitions, premonitions, fate, daydreaming”, I got a website talking about “The Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena” by Carl Gustav Jung. While I wouldn’t say it’s not possible that a Creative Writing covers the material discussed by Elly from her first day of class in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I would say that I am very amused by Lynn’s choice of what the items are. Of all things she mentions, she includes 6th sense, premonitions and fate. Although the Patterson speak only rarely about religion, the idea of things that are meant to be, fate or destiny have come up in the strip over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. If Lynn Johnston plans to rewrite her strip's history by having Elly Patterson embrace her creative writing class, then the use of one of her favourite terms makes perfect sense.
However, if I were John Patterson, after hearing this long list of things Elly did in one class, my response would not be “Did you do any work?” but it would be “Are you sure you were in the right class?”
Requiring NO formal training in or experience with creative writing, English 309 introduces you to three major genres of literature, Poetry, Non-Fiction, and Fiction. This eight-week course follows as much as possible the patterns and assignments established in a traditional Creative Writing course.
Beyond making you better writers, this class seeks to enhance your appreciation of the form and content of literature by giving due consideration to topics such as technique, figurative language, structure, tone, point of view, voice, etc. To that end, you will not only write a good deal of literature, but you will also read and discuss numerous poems and short stories contained in The Creative Writing Guide and in various handouts. You will learn, among other things, to distinguish between simple and sophisticated literature.
Now when I do an internet search on “6th sense, superstitions, premonitions, fate, daydreaming”, I got a website talking about “The Psychology and Pathology of So-Called Occult Phenomena” by Carl Gustav Jung. While I wouldn’t say it’s not possible that a Creative Writing covers the material discussed by Elly from her first day of class in today’s new-run of For Better or For Worse, I would say that I am very amused by Lynn’s choice of what the items are. Of all things she mentions, she includes 6th sense, premonitions and fate. Although the Patterson speak only rarely about religion, the idea of things that are meant to be, fate or destiny have come up in the strip over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over and over again. If Lynn Johnston plans to rewrite her strip's history by having Elly Patterson embrace her creative writing class, then the use of one of her favourite terms makes perfect sense.
However, if I were John Patterson, after hearing this long list of things Elly did in one class, my response would not be “Did you do any work?” but it would be “Are you sure you were in the right class?”
posted by howard at 11:40 PM
9 Comments:
I can see the possibility of a creative writing course spending a day or so discussing those subjects, and even longer discussing memory. But on the first day, um. I guess it might depend on who's teaching it to some extent. I can see how the conflation of memory and imagination would fit into a creative writing course, but not all that New Agey stuff.
As for "fate", I think a good instructor (and fellow classmates, who are always incredibly important in creative writing courses in my experience) might cover it to say: don't have your plot run on "fate". That's right up there with writing a novel in which paint is scarce in Saskatchewan in 1960.
There's a good reasn why we see them harp on things being fated to be; they're the creations of someone who thinks that the Job Fairy will plop things in your lap so long as you sit passively. Try to do things for yourself, though, and you're in for a boatload of misery.
Curiously enough, I wrote my Monday "FOOBAR" script yesterday--before having seen today's new-run--and I had Elly reference "fate." Hmmmm. ;)
I'm disappointed that LJ didn't repeat the strip I based yesterday's FOOBAR on. Especially since my "Monday" FOOBAR is a continuation. Oh, well, I guess LJ is trying to reconfigure Elly into a more serious student than she was the first time around. Never mind her "fate" for the next 28 years is sealed already.
Clio,
I can see the possibility of a creative writing course spending a day or so discussing those subjects, and even longer discussing memory. But on the first day, um.
The idea that a classroom covers a huge number of topics in a single day is very reminiscent of the Elizabeth Patterson teaching style. In Lynn’s mind, the ability to cover a lot of material must be the sign of a good classroom or a good teacher.
DreadedCandiru2,
There's a good reasn why we see them harp on things being fated to be; they're the creations of someone who thinks that the Job Fairy will plop things in your lap so long as you sit passively. Try to do things for yourself, though, and you're in for a boatload of misery.
That may be true for the Pattersons, but Gordon Mayes’ success was clearly indicated by hard work. It’s only when Lynn Johnston took him from garage mechanic to car dealership and restaurant owner with a fleet of limousines at his disposal for Liz’s wedding did she start putting the Job Fairy to work for Gordon.
aprilp_katje,
Oh, well, I guess LJ is trying to reconfigure Elly into a more serious student than she was the first time around. Never mind her "fate" for the next 28 years is sealed already.
Exactly. Lynn is clearly trying to build up Elly a lot more as a writer than she ever did before. She rewrote the biography to indicate she left the university for writing, she reworded the strip from yesterday to remove the “bored housewife” phrase, and now Elly actually likes her class. There is a lot of time between now and Early Spring for her to build Elly up. When she takes her down, it will be a little more devastating than it was the first time around, when Elly realizes that she is a bored housewife and doesn’t have the attention span necessary for the class.
Curiously enough, I wrote my Monday "FOOBAR" script yesterday--before having seen today's new-run--and I had Elly reference "fate."
Following up on myself to say I'm postponing that one until Wednesday in order to do a follow-up on today's new-ruin.
reworded the strip from yesterday to remove the “bored housewife” phrase
"Bored housewife" seems to be on its way to memehood, but the original strip actually said, "Of course there are always a few housewives looking for a change." Still condescending, but the "bored" would have made it even worse.
When she takes her down, it will be a little more devastating than it was the first time around, when Elly realizes that she is a bored housewife and doesn’t have the attention span necessary for the class.
True, though I expect LJ hasn't really thought this through.
"Bored housewife" seems to be on its way to memehood, but the original strip actually said, "Of course there are always a few housewives looking for a change."
Sorry. I don't have the original. I was just copying quotations from FOOBiverse folks, whom I presumed did have the original.
Sorry. I don't have the original. I was just copying quotations from FOOBiverse folks, whom I presumed did have the original.
No worries--I figured you'd want to know. You like to analyze nuances like that. :)
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