Dorothy Said:

How can i get better at singing with out lessons, writing lyrics for songs, and making more creative riffs?

We Answered:

KNOW YOUR MESSAGE AND KNOW YOUR AUDIENCE.

Experiment-all the time.

Play with how rhymes and rhythms affect timing and how timing affects the message of the music and lyrics.
Experience everything, (the sound of a subway-coffee percolating) try using music, sounds, timing, words, silences to emulate the experience and/or the emotions they inspire. A simple for instance would be the sound of an alarm and the smell of coffee-do they relate? How? Were you to put that experience to music would it inspire a fast or slow tempo? How would the tempo of background music affect the experience?
Hope this helped-I often give this type of question to my kids-it helps them focus on presentation.

Katherine Said:

I want to be a writer, what would be the best way to go educationally?

We Answered:

Do an English degree. Seriously.

Your chances of leaving school and just becoming 'a writer' after a creative writing course at college are zero. You will need to pursue a salaried career as well if you want to write fiction. It is almost impossible even for a published novelist to make a living wage from writing fiction. Most of them do other things. The award-winning, critically acclaimed writer Magnus Mills continues to work part-time as a bus-driver as well as writing. China Mieville, the multiple award-winning science fiction/fantasy writer, works as a lecturer at a university. Terry Pratchett, now one of the bestselling authors in the English language, had been a published novelist for well over a decade and had already published the first three novels in his bestselling Discworld series before he ever made enough money to give up his day job as a press officer.

Moreover, with no qualifications/experience other than A-levels and a few creative writing classes, you won't get a job in journalism, PR, copywriting, publishing, editing or any other writing-related career.

If you want a day job that involves writing while you practise writing fiction in your spare time, or a day job that will give you the experience want to be a freelance journalist/copywriter/editor one day, you should absolutely do an English degree. All those professions will want graduates, and ideally graduates with an academic subject as a degree rather than a vocational one. They won't want someone with A-levels and creative writing at college.

You can always join a creative writing group at uni - there's bound to be one. You might even be able to find a degree that offers a creative writing module as part of an English Literature course.

Also, speaking as someone who has a degree in English, it will be incredibly useful in improving your own writing. Nothing helps you to understand how to use words better than analysing how other people - the best people - do it. I really have found my degree invaluable in writing fiction. If you want to learn how to do something, study the way the really brilliant people do it - and an English degree will absolutely give you the best opportunity to do that.

There is one other option which you haven't mentioned, which would apply if you were interested in journalism. You could look into, after your A-levels, studying for the NCTJ, which is a vocational qualification in journalism, instead of going to uni. However, the most likely career route after that would be starting as a junior reporter on a local paper - good experience, but badly paid and long hours. And there will likely be candidates for the same jobs who have a degree *and* the NCTJ.

If it's relevant, I work in media relations, writing and editing various types of copy. My boyfriend is a journalist who now also works in media relations. And we, too, are definitely working class. :-)

Vicki Said:

plz help me in creative writing??

We Answered:

Ahh, good old year 8.

Back then, i wrote a story about me walking to school and Hilary Duff being killed by icicles on the way there and there was a crazy drunk man who almost killed me but I killed him before he killed me.

:)

Jim Said:

Art lessons and writing lessons in Virginia Beach?

We Answered:

check out the site i came across with, well it's not in virginia beach, but you can do it in your home... what i liked about the site is that it says that it can help you discover a fun and easy way to write. we know that writing can be hard if don't know how to express yourself, and if you do, there are times when you just run out of ideas. hope it helps.. good luck..

Gary Said:

What's in a Creative Writing as a subject?

We Answered:

In creative writing the assignments are usually to write either a short story or part of a novel, or to write poetry. Some creative writing classes cover both fiction and poetry.
At some point in the class one or more of your works will be "work shopped." Copies will be made for the other members of the class. They will all get a chance to read your work and to comment on it. Some of your fellow students, you will find, can be quite vicious. Most teachers do not encourage this kind of criticism, but there is little that they do about it. When I took a creative writing class many years ago the work shop approach had not yet spread throughout the nation and our work was usually critiqued only by the instructor. I think I would prefer that, but I don't know of anywhere in the US where you could get it. Instructors like the work shop approach partly because they think it is less work for them.

Patricia Said:

i am writing a speech about "why we need more creative art lessons in school" help me with it?

We Answered:

It allows the student to express themselves as well as allowing them to learn techniques/mediums that are not learned in typical art classes. This also allows them to be more culturally aware.