Can Fiction Writing Really Be Taught?

No, this isn’t a push to buy some new software of e–book on the subject, this is a real question.  And I’m not talking about teaching or learning new tips or techniques.  I’m asking, can someone actually learn how to write fiction if it’s not “in them”.  I ask this because of a post I read yesterday by my friend and fellow writer, Andrew E. Kaufman.  In the post, he questioned his ability to write another book that would be as good or better than the first book he’d written.  I told him to stop worrying because he was (and is) a natural born story teller.  Seriously, the man’s a genius.

Here’s the thing.  I was trying to come up with something to write about for tonight, and just typed in the term “writing fiction” into the search engine.  I got a huge list full of places that claim to teach you how to write fiction.  And I asked myself, “can this be done?”.  I’m sure if there’s a story teller somewhere down deep inside you, it can be.  But, if you suck at telling stories, can you be taught?

In my opinion, there’s more to writing than just putting words to page.  There’s passion and meaning, and for me at least, there are little voices in my head that need to have their stories told.  Even if I just get in written out onto the page so they can have their say in the world.  Yes, I know how strange that sounds, but you know what I mean. (I hope)

Since the days when our ancestors sat around the campfires, story telling has been an art form all its own.  The characters become real entities.  The locations become real landscapes.  And if it’s done right, the emotions come off the pages and right into our hearts.  This is the mark of a true story teller.  Is this something that can be taught, or is this something that has to come from a special place that only a few people have within?

The Bio That Is Me

This is the bio I had started to put together for a new site just released.  However, when it dawned on me that I’d pretty much written a full-length novel of myself, I thought I’d better fix it and start again.  But I didn’t want to loose everything I’d already written, so I’m putting it here.  Enjoy…or don’t…your choice.  LOL

My name is Christine Senter and I’ve been a freelance writer for the past 20+ years.  I began writing as a hobby in grade school and began trying to write professionally at about age 18.
I wasn’t able to go to college as children and life got in the way, so I read everything I could find about the writing field on my own time.  I wrote articles, short stories, and poetry on an old
1950s manual typewriter.  And after several rejection letters, I did manage to get a couple poems published in small chapbooks.

In 1994, I finally joined the online revolution.  My husband got us our first computer and I spent 3 days in my room teaching myself how to work the Internet and how to build a site using HTML.  In 1995, I found a free online site that would help me with my online writing career.  The class was called “Beginning Writing” and the teacher was Shery Ma Belle Arrieta.  She taught me a lot about being a writer online, and soon gave me my own column on her personal website.  Her site was called The E-Writer’s Place and I wrote a column called The Write Sites.  I researched the Internet looking for sites that had anything to do with writing, from free classes to research sites to literary agents.

Within a couple of years, I was producing my own sites through a company called WebSeed Publishing.  It was one of the very first writing communities and I ran 2 different sites.  One was called Finding the Father.com—a site about finding God in today’s society—and the other was called PlantLore.com—a site that looked into the histories, mysteries, and mythologies of the plant kingdom.  When Webseed went under, so did my sites.

It was then I decided to take the plunge and buy my first domain.  It was a site called The Prompt Writer and was filled with writing prompts for my fellow writers.  I also put together a weekly newsletter for my readers and posted each week’s prompts onto the site.  Though I no longer maintain the newsletter, the site has been updated several times and is still filled with free writing prompts.

From 2004-2007, I worked at writing poetry and short stories.  I had a few published on various websites and made a little money along the way.  When I started writing for Associated Content, my writing career took on a life of its own.  I found out that I could make money as a writer, though I didn’t see me making enough to pay off any bills.  I had also started writing for Hubpages and a couple other sites that are no longer in existence.

In 2008, everything changed.  I was contacted by a pro-blogger by the name of Garry Conn.  Garry and I became great friends and he began paying me to write SEO styled articles for his many web blogs.  Up to that time, I had had a blog, but it was more of a play place than a way of making money.  Garry taught me how to monetize my sites and how to run a WordPress blog.  With a year’s time, I owned 3 more blogs—Special Offers Blog, Sapheyerblu Review, and Christine Senter.com.

Today, I still work to maintain my many blogs, though I don’t get it done as often as I’d like.  I do, however, make enough to keep me going by writing for several different content sites such as TextWriter.com and WordGigs.  I also work as a ghostwriter for a couple other bloggers who prefer to remain anonymous.

Outside of being a writer, I also run a couple different online shops.  I run a webstore called Classic Curios Boutique and I’m working on putting together my own Zazzle store.  However these are only as a hobby for the time being.  My real triumph is winning my own EZshoppe called Prairied Treasures, which I’m working on getting put together as I write this.  I want to have enough items made (all handmade items) to make it worth sending people over to see.  My problem is that I’m a perfectionist and I can’t see anyone wanting to buy my jumbles.

So that’s me.  I’m sure there’s a lot of stuff I’ve forgotten about.  Several sites I’ve written stuff on that I can’t remember the address of or even the name of.  I’m sure there’s a lot more out there about me, but some of it’s probably not worth seeing.  If I think of more stuff, I’ll update this page.  Until that time, this is the bio that is me.

Back To Business

Hey kids, did you miss me???  I apologize for being gone for most of this month, but it’s been chaos around my world.  Between my real world job, school activities, and making most of my Christmas gifts, life just got away from me.  I did manage to get my Christmas gifts finished, but did so at the 11th hour and didn’t get a chance to take any pictures.

I will tell you about these gifts though, as I”m thinking about making more and selling them.  May even be opening my own online store to do so.  I’ve been doing a lot of research into online stores and alternatives to both Ebay and Etsy.  I know Etsy is almost everyone’s favorite, but I”m broke and need something that isn’t going to cost me any start up fees at all.  As soon as I get it together, I’ll pass along the information I’ve collected so everyone can have a shot.

Anyway, I love to sew and make quilt blocks.  Problem is I’m not so great at making quilts.  I’m still working on my daughter’s, but it’s almost done….just need to put the back on and it’s ready to use.  So I decided to take some of my quilt blocks and turn them into purses.  I call them Rag Bags as they’re basically a big tote bag.  I had a ball making them and the cool thing is that no 2 are exactly alike.  I say that because I do the whole thing by hand and sometimes my seams are a bit off, or like one that I made for Christmas, the bags decide to design themselves and I’m only there to run the sewing machine.  LOL

In February, I’ll be holding my first giveaway thanks to Simply Stacie and her Handmade With Love Giveaway.  I’ll be holding my part on my other site, Redhead Rants.  I’m very excited and am already working on a couple of items to give away.  I’m hoping to have a store opened up and ready to go by then, with real things ready for sale.  LOL.  As soon as I get more information on this giveaway, I’ll let you know.

Well, I’d better get back to work.  I missed you all very much and I hope you all had a great Christmas.  I pray that you all have a great New Year and that we can all say at the end that it was the best one ever.