Literary Writing for Beginners: How to Become an Author

Literary Writing for Beginners: How to Become an Author

“We have now come to the end of this Domestika course. I would like to thank you again for your participation and hope that I was able to give you some suggestions and tips on literary writing along the way. I would like to summarize for you here how you can proceed to write your final project. Choose one of Mitch Epstein's pictures and write down any questions it raises for you. For example: What to see? What surprises and irritates you about it? How did this scene possibly come about?

Honestly answer the question why you chose this picture. What does it trigger in you? And what perspective do you have to take in the narrative so that your text conveys exactly this feeling? You can tell as one of the characters in the picture - or project yourself into the picture as an observer. Make a note of all the sensual details of the scene that are perceptible from your narrative perspective. Also, make notes about the inner workings of your narrative instance or the character you empathize with (thoughts, feelings, memories). If you like, think of a backstory and record what happens after the depicted scene. Write the first draft based on your notes. Don't slow down your flow of writing, but record whatever ideas and associations come to your mind. Don't worry if the first draft still seems unsorted or linguistically unpolished. In the next step you can revise everything. First save an intermediate step, format your text as a standard page and look at your first draft like a critical reader: Is everything already in the right place or do you still have to move individual sentences or entire passages? Are additions, transitions between passages, a beginning or an end missing? Is something incomprehensible? Or is something being explained too clearly? Be mindful of where you can swipe and knock out (think of the iceberg, much of it will stay submerged, and try not to go well over two pages overall). You can also often cross out individual formulations: Replace explanatory adjectives and clichéd phrases with precise descriptions. If possible, describe what is happening in your own words – a style that is intended to impress others can quickly come across as artificial. You can read your text aloud to check which wording you still want to work on. Set everything aside for a day before going over it again. It is best to save your own version of the text before each revision. This is a section of my final text:

Michele has forgotten what is proper. He even forgot where he is. Pressed against the wall of the house, one hand clinging to the street sign so as not to tip over into the alley. Michele, who rises in the moment and merges with the couple he is contemplating. He becomes a part of what is happening in the alley. He's the hand that rests on the woman's cheek, he's the whisper in her ear, the twitch at the corners of his mouth, her hand on his hip, and his wish she wouldn't go home soon. He is the impatience to touch her even before she has gotten off her bike, he is the shadow of the houses falling in the alley, the shop entrance into which they press, the closed blind in front of the closed door while the roofs bathed in a rusty light. Warm and dirty it falls on the main street. Michele can feel it because he is that light, he is everything that is happening. And he's all there is to know about it.

Don't forget to upload your work samples, texts and drafts to the forum. Simply click on "Create your project". The forum also gives you the opportunity to exchange ideas with other course participants. Of course, I will also be there and will support you with hints and advice. I look forward to seeing your project on the forum. Until then, I hope you enjoy writing! ”

Partial transcription of the video

“final project I'm glad you're on my literary writing course participated. Thank you for taking the time to do this. In the end it's all about finding out for yourself how and in what way you want to write. In this course you learned a bit about my path to writing and heard which writers inspire me You learned techniques to frame your writing set yourself tasks and make it easier to get started. In addition, you have experienced how to collect and record material and where you can find stories in your environment. I showed you how to start to write a first draft and what techniques you can u...”

This transcript is automatically generated, so it may contain mistakes.

Course summary for: Literary Writing for Beginners: How to Become an Author

• Level: Beginner
• 94% positive reviews (69)
• 2856 students
• 4 units
• 11 lessons (2h 13m)
• 15 downloads

• Category

  Writing

• Areas

  Creative Writing, Fiction Writing, Writing