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Massive Open Online Course: How Writers Write Fiction 2015
University of Iowa ^ | 9/5/2015

Posted on 09/05/2015 9:59:51 AM PDT by iowamark

Greetings from the University of Iowa's International Writing Program!

Fall is in the air here in Iowa City, and we are delighted to invite you to join our new MOOC, How Writers Write Fiction 2015! Opening on September 24 and closing on November 24, 2015, this online course offers an interactive progression through the principles and practice of writing fiction. The course is open to everyone in the world, free of charge, and we're excited to be teaching it on NovoEd, an online platform designed for interactive and creative community learning. Join us!
 

Watch a preview on YouTube here or Vimeo here


Learn more and sign up here

This year's fiction course offers video classes from Paul Harding, Horacio Castellanos Moya, Naomi Jackson, Edward Carey, Margot Livesy, and many others. Our instructors are Christopher Merrill, International Writing Program Director and University of Iowa Professor of English; and Angela Flournoy, author of the critically-acclaimed novel The Turner House. No previous writing experience is necessary, only a stable internet connection. If you would like to take this course but do not have stable internet access, please contact us at distancelearning.iwp@gmail.com.

Please share this email with friends, colleagues, and students interested in writing fiction; and come meet your fellow writers on Facebook and Twitter. We hope to see you on September 24!

Sincerely,
Susannah Shive, Distance Learning Coordinator

International Writing Program
University of Iowa


TOPICS: Books/Literature; Education
KEYWORDS:

1 posted on 09/05/2015 9:59:51 AM PDT by iowamark
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To: iowamark
"The earth is degenerating these days. Bribery and corruption abound. Children no longer mind their parents. Every man wants to write a book, and it is evident that the end of the world is fast approaching."

Sound familiar?

(Assyrian tablet, 2800 B.C.)

2 posted on 09/05/2015 10:02:39 AM PDT by LouAvul (Liberalism, the bane of civilization.)
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To: LouAvul

There is nothing new under the sun.


3 posted on 09/05/2015 10:13:08 AM PDT by Excellence (Marine mom since April 11, 2014)
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To: iowamark

I wish some FReepers could get together for a collaborative sci fi effort.

I have plenty of detailed ideas in my head but don’t have the skill to put it down in words.


4 posted on 09/05/2015 10:16:50 AM PDT by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: iowamark

May check into.

Thanks.


5 posted on 09/05/2015 10:17:27 AM PDT by wally_bert (There are no winners in a game of losers. I'm Tommy Joyce, welcome to the Oriental Lounge.)
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To: iowamark

First you need to be a loud mouthed liberal douche bag if you want to make it as a writer. :)


6 posted on 09/05/2015 10:26:14 AM PDT by Tzimisce
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To: LouAvul

Did this course include all of Obola’s scriptwriters and teleprompter-fed media in his national press corpse of ABCNNBCBS?


7 posted on 09/05/2015 10:41:19 AM PDT by Robert A Cook PE (I can only donate monthly, but socialists' ABBCNNBCBS continue to lie every day!)
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To: iowamark

Reminds me of Robert Mitchum’s quote: “Taking acting lessons is like practicing to be tall.”


8 posted on 09/05/2015 11:08:51 AM PDT by pabianice (LINE)
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To: Tzimisce
Sad Puppy!

I found a kindle ebook titled something like _John Scalzi is a bad writer and not as popular as me_.

I tried a sample and it was probably written by John Scalzi trying to portray the nonSJW mindset.

It was pretty pathetic.

Anyway, bfl.

9 posted on 09/05/2015 11:15:07 AM PDT by NotQuiteCricket (Spoons cause obesity. Please call congress to pass a law banning spoons, for the children's future.)
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To: onedoug

ping


10 posted on 09/05/2015 11:19:43 AM PDT by windcliff
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To: iowamark

I gotta check this out. Bump


11 posted on 09/05/2015 12:08:58 PM PDT by Conservative4Ever (ENOUGH!! Man the pitch forks and torches...let the revolution begin!!!)
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To: iowamark

Bfl! Looks interesting!


12 posted on 09/05/2015 12:12:40 PM PDT by dware (Trump/Cruz 2016, or get ready for 8 more dummycrat years)
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To: iowamark

Bfl! Looks interesting!


13 posted on 09/05/2015 12:13:13 PM PDT by dware (Trump/Cruz 2016, or get ready for 8 more dummycrat years)
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To: iowamark
I think Stephen King had it right when he said that in order to be a good writer, you had to spend at least six hours every day either reading or writing.

I read or write at least three hours a day and I'm a halfway decent writer.

14 posted on 09/05/2015 12:17:41 PM PDT by SamAdams76 (We gave GOP the majority to take care of business and they let us down. Time for Trump/Cruz)
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To: iowamark

If this is the U of Iowa it’s going to teach you how to write tiny slice-of-life minimal-action wandering plotless stories.

Maybe with lots of graphic sex.

I don’t think it would do much good for writers who want to explore the complexities of action writing. Which ain’t that easy.


15 posted on 09/05/2015 1:16:22 PM PDT by squarebarb ( Fairy tales are basically true.)
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To: cripplecreek

then put it down in sentences. (joke) There are so few writers who are interested in the mechanics and techniques of writing that it drives me to the edge of despair. I can’t even find a decent forum where writers talk about their dismal craft, ink-stained wretches that we are.


16 posted on 09/05/2015 1:19:09 PM PDT by squarebarb ( Fairy tales are basically true.)
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To: squarebarb

I just think it would be cool for those of us FReepers who can’t write to throw ideas out there for Freepers who can to see where they can go with them.

Something I’ve been thinking about for a while is sophisticated robots with true human intelligence, memory and emotion downloaded from an existing human. They would have all the same knowledge, feelings, and memories of the human donor. At the moment of download they would be virtually identical in the intellectual/emotional sense.

After the download the human donor and the robot would begin to become separate individuals as they had different experiences and different viewpoints of experiences.

You could put your donor and bot characters on a starship on a 100,000 year journey. Maybe 10,000 human donors in stasis with 10,000 bots who maintain the ship and keep it operational. The bots would regularly download their brains into a computer in case they were damaged beyond repair so they could be replicated with as little loss as possible.

The ship could also be carrying say 50,000 cryogenically frozen embryos for colonization of the destination planet.

These are the sort of things I ponder as I go to sleep every night. I just don’t have the skill for building a coherent story around it.


17 posted on 09/05/2015 2:17:34 PM PDT by cripplecreek (Pride goes before destruction, and a haughty spirit before a fall.)
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To: windcliff

Thanks. But if I ever get published it’ll just be another book.


18 posted on 09/05/2015 2:30:16 PM PDT by onedoug
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To: iowamark

bkmk


19 posted on 09/06/2015 10:39:23 AM PDT by AllAmericanGirl44
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