Fiction writing whores

So I decided to take another writing class - Tuesday’s after work. It’s my second in as many years at the world renowned Gotham Writers Workshop - just kidding - no offense.

This class is Fiction Writing, as opposed to the Screenwriting. I thought it would be interesting to try writing things that aren’t just on the screen (hmmm - I’m hungry).

I also thought it would be fun to get away from structure a bit, although after my first class, that doesn’t seem to be the case.

But the first class was with a substitute, and the second class the real teacher showed up, and half the students didn’t - she said it was normal.

We read a short story called “Elephant” by Barry Yourgrau, which was great, and then the teacher asked for our thoughts. After the usual hesitation, I offered my awkward suggestion of the metaphor - and was scolded… apparently it wasn’t what she was looking for.

Now, my inference that the elephants were women, and possibly whores, might have been off-color… and I can understand she wanted to talk about how quickly the author created character, and a world, with confidence.

But I got the sense she hadn’t made the connection… even though it was in Yourgrau’s collection of short stories - the book titled ” The Sadness of Sex”.

So I’m distracted now, pondering how I’ll get out of the class, and we read another story (”The Raft” by Peter Orner). And again there was a point I felt she missed in the analysis - although I kept my thoughts to myself of course - a small but important line that changes the message of the character’s journey.

I’m a student, I know this, but she’s an idiot.

The real problem of course is that I’m sensitive, and will always hate her for speaking to me with hostile condescension.

The good news is, I woke up the next morning excited to write, and have been putting in good hours ever since.

Maybe they’ll let me switch to the Saturday afternoon class.