Allison Urban's picture
Allison Urban from the bodies of people she's never met is reading Frankenstein October 3, 2011 - 7:05pm

I'm sure we've all had at least one terrible experience with a writing teacher. Mine was with a Creative Writing Masters student who was teaching my undergraduate short story class. I submitted a story, for which her only feedback was "Nothing happens in this story." Another student said, "your portrayal of the molestation was beautiful and delicate."

What writing teacher horor stories have you accumulated?

Mike Mckay's picture
Mike Mckay is reading God's Ashtray October 3, 2011 - 8:15pm

I was 16, a junior in highschool, when I wrote a 3 page 2000+ word story for my final in English and found out three weeks later when grades come out that I went from a B+ to an F. Confused as hell I ask the old bastard and his douche assistant why did I recieve this grade. They both flat out told me I stole the story and that it is getting processed to detect any ties to other stories. Devastated with this bullshit I wait until the next week for the reults. Turns out my story had literally no connection to anything on the internet. (not bad for a first try) So the douche apologizes a week later and tells me I have an A for the year. The old bastard didn't even apologize but he didn't need to. If it wasn't for that assignment I wouldn't be writing today. Thanks Mr. Bangle 

 

 

Tucson's picture
Tucson from Belgium is reading Late Essays - J.M. Coetzee April 24, 2015 - 6:51am

My first creative writing teacher was a middle aged woman who 'd done 13 different jobs before she turned 25. Then at a later age she decided she wanted to teach writing and I was one of her students. Our classes (once a week, 3 hours per session) consisted mainly of talking about her daughter, her cousin who'd tried to commit suicide, her sick dog, etc.. We hardly did any writing that year.

I passed that year, (I wrote a story about a prostitute blowing some dude who thought he was a gay man) and quit that school. Then I started somewhere else, which was a lot better. Only the teacher there had a poor health, so she cancelled many classes.

TheScrivener's picture
TheScrivener from Seattle is reading short stories April 24, 2015 - 9:30am

I took a writing class from a guy who wrote a book.  I should have looked at his book before taking the class, but as the class was offered by large and well regarded local university, I thought his class would be okay.  His book---which I tracked down after the class was such a disappointment included lines like, "she tugged on her breasts like puppies that needed to be punished." Also the plot of that book was incoherent and yet cliche (Like when the protagonist's sister runs into a burning orphanage to save some kids and then when she is brought out, dead of course, her arms are outstretched like Jesus on the cross. Oh yeah, and then he gets her kidney and his kidney disease is cured! yay!)

'nuff said.

Jose F. Diaz's picture
Jose F. Diaz from Boston is reading Wolf Hall by Hilary Mantel April 24, 2015 - 2:53pm

I took a fiction class in college. The professor's first words were, "I don't think writing can be taught."

Then why the hell did I pay you to teach me to write fiction. I was beyond pissed for the entire semester. I didn't transfer because the other writing courses were full, and no other class interested me.

TheScrivener's picture
TheScrivener from Seattle is reading short stories April 24, 2015 - 8:08pm

That teacher sounds crap---maybe he should have ended his sentence with: by me.

Mike Roberts's picture
Mike Roberts from Kingston, Ontario is reading Julia Cameron June 8, 2015 - 6:57pm

I had one teacher who sent us out class after class to 'Observe, listen and record"....Then when  we were done this (This was three or so classes gone already) told us to make a story out of that...spent the next couple classes writing in class...submitted it, then never heard anything else....the guy had quit teaching and moved to Australia with his younger lover....This was in 1986...Still hoping for feedback on that story....*grin*

 

 

Dwayne's picture
Dwayne from Cincinnati, Ohio (suburbs) is reading books that rotate to often to keep this updated June 9, 2015 - 8:03am

I never really had a bad one, but I want to read these stories and if I don't post it won't show up on the participated tab.

postpomo's picture
postpomo from Canada is reading words words words June 12, 2015 - 11:26am

went to a writer's workshop at the local library - the facilitator kept bringing everything back to those high-school explanations of conflict (man vs god, man vs himself, man vs nature). She also kept romanticizing the end of Good Will Hunting by misremembering the ending (and thus the story) completely.

Keiri LaPrade's picture
Keiri LaPrade from Virginia is reading Beowulf July 18, 2015 - 9:50pm

I'm actually studying to teach English, which includes writing, so I find this an interesting thread.

L.W. Flouisa's picture
L.W. Flouisa from Tennessee is reading More Murakami July 18, 2015 - 10:09pm

I never had a bad experience, because I've never had the opprotunity to have one. Though given what I've heard from friends, I think that's just as well.

And writing isn't like programming, where truly if you have the wrong syntax your program will ... not ... run. That was originally why I was drawn to writing first. I've learned more editing for macro syntax issues from learning to code in Ruby. (Things like checking for name consistency.)

Thuggish's picture
Thuggish from Vegas is reading Day of the Jackal July 21, 2015 - 9:44pm

I think so far Scrivener's takes the cake.