Scott Edelstein - No Experience Necessary Writers Course

THE
NO-EXPERIENCE-NECESSARY
WRITERS COURSE

The author is clearly in command of his subject. And his approach is indeed stress-free.

His tone works well. The reader and potential writer is made to feel that it is possible to write and write well in a variety of places, with a variety of implements, on a variety of schedules, for a variety of audiences.

He is very qualified, and what he does well here is to share his obvious pleasure in writing and encourage others to try.

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THE
NO-EXPERIENCE-NECESSARY
WRITERS COURSE

A Unique Stress-Free Approach to Writing
Fiction and Poetry For Anyone Who Has Ever
Wanted to Put Words on Paper

Scott Edelstein

Shelter by John Edward Sorrell originally appeared, in somewhat different form, in Sothebys International Poetry Anthology, and is Copyright 1984 by the Arvon Foundation.

Scarborough House

Lanham, MD 20706

FIRST PUBLISHED IN 1990

Fifth printing 1993

Copyright 1990 by Scott Edelstein.

All rights reserved.

Printed in the United States of America.

Text design by Louis A. Ditizio.

Cover design by Susan Riley.

Library of Congress Cataloging-in-Publication Data

Edelstein, Scott.

The no-experience-necessary writers course : a unique stress-free approach for anyone who has ever wanted to write / Scott Edelstein.

p. cm.

ISBN 0-8128-8512-0ISBN 0-8128-3134-9 (pbk.)

ISBN: 978-0-8128-3134-4

1. AuthorshipHandbooks, manuals, etc. 2. English languageRhetoric. I. Title.

THIS BOOK IS unlike any other book or course on creative writing that you can buy or borrow.

First, this book is for anyone who has ever wanted to write. You dont need to have taken any college courses or been to a writers workshop. You dont have to have read any of the worlds great works of literature. You dont even need to have any previous writing experience. All you need is the desire to write. If youve wanted to write but never knew how to get started, this book will provide the perfect start.

Second, its stress-free. You dont have to turn in assignments or live up to anyone elses goals. There are no deadlines, requirements, or pressures of any kind. You can proceed at your own pace, and you dont have to worry whether youre doing any of the exercises correctly.

Third, its fun. The chapters are short, lively, and easy and entertaining to read. The twenty-five writing exercises are designed to intrigue you and inspire you to writenot to force you through some stultifying drill. And all the exercises are flexible and open-ended, so you can go anywhere you want to with them.

Fourth, this book will help you discover for yourself what it is you have to say as a writer. It will teach you to write what you want to write, and it will help you to express it in the manner that best suits your own unique ideas, themes, talents, interests, and temperament. It will teach you to follow your own creative impulses and to trust those impulses. And it will help you to become the very best writer you can be.

This book is inexpensive. You dont have to spend hundreds of dollars on a college class or a correspondence course or a writers conference or workshop. All you need are this book, a pen, and some paper. Total cost: about $20.

This book is convenient. You can use it when you want and how you want to. You can learn to write without having to disrupt the rest of your day.

But most important, The No-Experience-Necessary Writers Course presents an approach to creative writing that works. Its not a book of lofty literary theory that does little more than fill your head with thoughts and clever quotes about writing. Its a practical, down-to-earth guide to writing that centers on the act of writing itself. It will get you writing and keep you writingnot by making demands or assigning tasks, but by helping you discover for yourself the joys and pleasures of putting words on paper.

I know this approach works because Ive seen it work, over and over, for hundreds of people who have used it in my creative writing classes over the past ten years. Its an approach that people find inspiring, exciting, and fun. And its an approach that can work as well for you at home as it does for my students in the classroom.

Although this book has been written primarily for people who have done little or no writing before, it can also be helpful to more experienced writers. If you are already a practicing writer, this book can provide new ideas, inspiration, and energy for your writing. It can help you look at your own writing in new and different ways. It might even open up whole new areas for you to explore in your writing, or it might get your writing going in different and exciting directions.

No one is better qualified than you to put into words what you have to say. This book will show you how to do it, do it well, and enjoy every minute of iteven if youe never tried it before.

Scott Edelstein

Minneapolis, MN

THE
NO-EXPERIENCE-NECESSARY
WRITERS COURSE

ANYONE WHO WRITES is a writer.

From the time you turn out your first story, poem, or essayor even your first paragraph, stanza, or sceneyoure a writer. Its as simple as that. Anyone who tells you otherwise is off the mark.

Of course, its unlikely that youll be able to write great fiction or poetry from the time you first start writing (though this does happen once in a great while). More likely, youll gradually get more versatile, more creative, and more skilled. As in any other endeavor, the more you write, the better you will get.

But no one should expect you to write great literature from the start. Nor should you expect it yourself.

A lot of other peoplemostly other writers with inflated egoslike to make pronouncements like, Youre not a writer until youve written at least three books. Not surprisingly, the person who makes such a statement will have written three or more books. For some reason, there are thousands of people, most of them writers, who feel it is important to define for the rest of the world who is a writer and who isnt. And, almost inevitably, these people include themselves in their definitions of writer, while excluding almost everyone else.

Forget what these people say. Its nonsense. If it comes from the mouth of a respected (or even famous) writer, writing teacher, editor, or critic, its still nonsense.

You may not be a great (or even a good) writer yet. But thats not the point. No matter what you decide to do, youve always got to start at the beginning and then get better and better. So dont put yourself down for being a beginner, and dont let anyone else try to put you down for it. Remind such people that they were once beginners themselves.

Once youve begun writing, youre a writer. Dont worry about your self-image. Dont be concerned with living up to someone elses definition of a writer, because you dont have to do so, now or ever.