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The Old Soldier wrote nothing but flash fiction in graduate school at the University of Pittsburgh.
Hello, bloggers, college students, creative writers and my Flash Fiction Fanatics. Yes, it’s true. I got into graduate school writing flash fiction and finished a book of flash fiction as my thesis.
Do writers need to go to college to write flash fiction? Absolutely not. But I’ll tell you what college forces a writer to do. It forces a writer to focus on the theory and the craft of writing no matter what the writer’s genre happens to be.
Going to a university also puts the writer in contact with lots of people, professors, who are recognized, published writers. The networking is invaluable. Many writers, for whatever reason, cannot or will not put in on their own into writing what being in a structured writing program demands.
A writer should not despair if he or she cannot go to college. But that writer has to apply the seat of the pants to the seat of the chair, to not only write but to study writing. It’s the only way.
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So You Think You’re A Writer
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Writers come in all shapes, sizes and ethnic backgrounds. Writers are young, old and in between. Some writers even put chocolate milk in their corn flakes. (Don’t knock it until you’ve tried it.)
We writers are the original motley crew.
So how can such a motley crew be covered by such a simple word as “writer”? Easy. All writers are committed to using words to capture life on the page. Now I’m speaking about those people who want to write well. I’m speaking about those people who understand that writing well is not the same as dashing off an email to your peeps. To write well, a writer has to study writing, has to read good writing and then has to sit down and write, a lot…usually for years before he or she becomes a good writer who writes well.
That’s a lot of work.
The Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette is here to help you get your work done.
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Filed under: Commentaries | Tagged: life, Pittsburgh Flash Fiction Gazette, study writing, think, writer, Writers, writing | 1 Comment »