I am considering teaching a creative writing course at the high school of my employment. I haven't gotten very far in this notion, but I wondered if any of you might be able to help me.

If you are a seasoned writer, can you give any advice?

If you are an intermediate writer, what do you wish you had known sooner?

If you are a beginning writer, what do you want to know?

This isn't something that would be starting until the next school year, but I would like to put together a thorough package to present to the principal and administrators before too long so they have time to consider it.

I am intermediate.

I wish I had known some of the basic story structures sooner. I only learned those sorts of things when I took a screenwriting class. We read The Writer's Journey and Story both of which were very helpful for all of my writing endeavors. I'm sure there must be some sort of creative writing equivalent. Knowing this basic structure made me feel more comfortable knowing I had all of the basic elements that made a good story. It also gave me a good place to start when trying something new or a variant of the structure.

Also, writing poetry really helped to expand my writing abilities. I don't do a lot of it now, but dabbling in it for a time really helped. Reading different poetry styles also helped.

Reading and studying classic books was also helpful to see different types of stories and a variation on the common structures and techniques of today.

I'll let you know if I think of anything else. Feel free to ask me any questions if you want. I think it is great that you are willing to pass on this skill to others.

Beginner.....ish

Show the students about opportunities to self publish or how to get their foot in the door of the writing world.

I know there's more, but I'm unpacking from vacation. I'll add more in a bit.

I wish I had known sooner that grammar style is not really the most important thing about writing.

Thank you. This is all very helpful.

In my class, we're using short stories to study, and students pick a piece from the class textbook, and then give a short presentation on them and what we learn as writers. That's been really helpful.

We're also using Ursula K. LeGuin's book Steering the Craft and those exercises. She focuses less on the global level and more on the sentence and word level, which is really helpful.

My advice would be to pay attention to the rhythm of the sentences and how they flow together, or don't, and achieve that balance between rich in information but not bloated and clunky. Learn efficiency.

Thanks so much. This is giving me a lot of good ideas for working on a pitch to the faculty.