That creative writing workshop in Portland that made me ditch high fantasy

I went to a free workshop at Powell's Books last spring, and the instructor read this super grounded story about someone losing their car keys in a parking lot. It was so simple but I felt more emotion than any dragon battle or magic system I've ever written. Now I try to write at least one scene per week that has zero fantasy elements, just raw human stuff. Has anyone else had a workshop or class totally flip what they thought they liked writing?

3 comments

3 Comments

skyler_jackson2726d ago

That little workshop broke me out of the same rut. I started doing writing sprints where I just describe someone waiting for a bus and it's way harder than plotting a quest but way more rewarding too. The small moments really do hit different when you strip away all the magic.

mason_lopez26d ago

Wait, isn't stripping away the magic kind of the whole point though, @skyler_jackson27?

susanb3426d ago

Strip away all the magic" is such a good way to put it. I've been doing something similar where I just write about what's going on in a coffee shop window for ten minutes. It's funny how much more real those little slices of life feel once you stop trying to make everything mean something big.