Writing as a Craft - video

To ALC....you need a better proofreader to check your spelling in the above description of the video.  A cynic might wonder how good your editors really are?  

Wonderful! Thank you Eric. Thinking about story telling as a craft is a much better way of thinking about it. I get it. I am a hairdresser by trade and completely understood your point. Thank you for defining it.

At first reading, I had the same reaction as Ansie. I was hoping for more details, such as Kokab provided. As I thought about it, though, I realized that Eric is right. We new writers need to find masters whom we can follow and from whom we can learn. The power of the age in which we live is that we do not have to become indentured servants to great masters. We have access to virtually everything on the Internet. There are many books and articles available online that can teach the rules of writing and storytelling. Like Eric, I have taken courses on writing that have helped me learn composition, grammar, the structure of fiction, and so forth. These are the elements of the craft of writing. What books cannot teach me, however, is the art of good writing. For that, I have to do two things: write, and have people who know good writing give me feedback on what I write. I need conversations about my writing. Whether it is a professor, a colleague, a writers' club, or an author's circle. We cannot learn to write in a vacuum.

Thank you. If you liked my nine points, you may also be interested in my short book 7 Steps to Improving Your Writing http://www.amazon.com/dp/B00BEONXI2 .

Kokab -- your 9 points are great, thanks! I particularly think writing prompts and exercises are a great way to stay sharp and hone a craft between projects.