to write a certain way, or not to write a certain way...
So I've been taking this online novel writing course with one of my most favorite, living authors (Francesca Lia Block) for the past 5 weeks. She invited writers that had existing manuscripts to come and learn under her guidance how to get our stories written in a fashion that could help us sell them (for publication). It took me awhile to figure something out about what her methods and goals were, but now that I've figured this out (for my own sake at least) I feel torn about whether I want to learn how to write this way or not. I wouldn't call her method or goals formulaic, but in a way, that's how they are starting to seem to me. Here's what I'm starting to think is what's going on. Popular fiction has "a feel" to it. There are standard elements of storytelling involved that hook readers that work to keep them transfixed while reading a novel. The reader wants to be drawn into a mysterious series of events that contain tension and unexpected d...