My First Uncle Orson's Writing Class...Day One

I quickly scanned the list of attendees. I saw my name, and the names of a few others I knew. I wondered how many people I would know at Orson Scott Card's writing class. Turns out it was three. And even though I thought I knew what I was in for, I wasn't even close.

Today was Day One of Mr. Card's two-day writing event. He asked, as the class began, what we expected to learn from the class. An interesting question, and to be honest, I wasn't sure exactly what I expected. I hoped I would learn more about the craft of writing. I had heard Mr. Card speak at a LTUE writing symposium years before. Maybe I thought the class would be more of what I experienced back then. Mr. Card's question made me think...just what was I expecting?

I saw and chatted with those I knew, and I met a few other people I didn't know. In the class we discussed point of view, themes, and story structure. We heard from our teacher and a few classmates as they shared their writing assignment. I've never been to a multi-day writing class. I'm assuming this is what these classes are like. What I loved were the insights, the little things authors think about, the things we think about as we drift off to sleep.

We're halfway done. We've got another day left. I've been to enough conferences and symposiums to know that when you love sitting and listening to someone talk about writing, but when the urge to leave that instruction so you can run from the room and get to your writing place and get writing, that's a successful class. So far, so good!