Five Good Reasons to go to a Writing Class

It’s that time of year again when we’ve unpacked our holiday suitcases, got the kids their uniforms for school, and we can now think about what we’re going to do over the autumn and winter months. The evenings are already starting to draw in, which means that it won’t be long till adult education classes start.

As an adult education tutor, I, of course, have a vested interest in getting people to sign up for classes. But apart from that, I really believe that classes are a godsend for anyone who really wants to write. Here are Five Good Reasons to go to a Writing Class.

 1) It’s a lot of fun and you get a chance to laugh a lot. Sometimes you will laugh because someone has written a piece of humorous writing; sometimes laughter arises out of the energy and synergy of the group. However it happens, you will certainly feel a lot better because of it.

 2) You can make good friends and really get to know people who share your interests. OK, you could say that about any subject, but over the past thirty years, I have been a student and a teacher in classes in several different subjects, and I can swear that there is definitely a different kind of ‘getting to know you’ that happens in writing classes. Your writing reveals who you are; even if you are not writing your life story, what you choose to write and how you choose to write it will reflect your personality and your obsessions. I have been a member of many classes where the learners don’t really make new friends with their fellow students, but that certainly isn’t the case at Creative Writing classes.

 3) There is nothing more fascinating than sharing other people’s writing. In a writing class, you will become aware that everyone is unique, everyone is an individual. Even if I set a dozen people the same topic to write about, I will end up with a dozen completely different pieces of writing. That will help you to appreciate other people’s originality, but it also helps you to realise that you are also unique and your insights are valuable.

 4) Writing classes make you write regularly (and encourage you to read regularly too). If you want to become a writer, there is no substitute for actually writing, day after day, week after week, month after month. I have several students who have drifted away from writing classes after a year or more, once they feel they have gained in confidence and they know what they are doing, only to turn up at classes again. ‘I’ve found that I need the discipline of coming to classes to make me write regularly,’ is something I’ve heard again and again. In a good class, you are expected to write, both in class and at home. And what’s more, you will be inspired to write.

 5) At writing classes, you benefit from the knowledge and experience of both your tutor and your fellow students. Imagine trying to learn how to become an expert silversmith with no help or guidance from anyone else. Even with all the help that you can get from the internet, including demos on YouTube, you would still lack something that is vital to your progress – feedback. It’s by getting regular feedback on your work from your tutor and other writers that you learn what you are doing right (so you can keep doing it). You also learn how to avoid or to fix the things that you aren’t doing so well. It is very difficult to achieve that level of objectivity if you are writing alone. Your writing is your ‘baby’ and it is very difficult for you to assess your own work, especially if it isn’t long since you wrote it.

So if you want to write and you haven’t yet made it to a class, why not sign up for one this term? Or if you have drifted away, only to find that you are not producing as much writing as you expected, why not come back to an Improvers’ class and see if it gives your writing a much-needed boost? We’ll be glad to see you.

Gale Barker, Creative Writing Tutor, Kirklees College