In Sarah's prompts and semimonthly letters I discovered a kindred spirit. A much more talented, writerly, and accomplished, but a kindred spirit nevertheless. I love Sarah's sense of humour and of the ridiculous, her tenderness and love that shine through in her prompts. Her breathless enthusiasm for all things writerly and creative is infectious. Because of all that, last June, in the middle of an warm and linden-scented Amsterdam night I signed up for the Story is a State of Mind course (I was travelling at the time, but still doing her daily prompts ).
Story is a State of Mind is a self-administered online multimedia course that introduces the basics of the creative process as they pertain to writing the short story. Lessons include Freewriting, Character, Dialogue, Consciousness, and Influence to name a few. Stories by famous and accomplished writers are available as part of the course, so you will not have to buy a whole bunch of books (although you will want to after you read the selected ones; I did). There are exercises to get you going, to keep you going and to help you finish. By the end of the course - whether you take an intensive, hide-away-in-the-woods week, or seven leisurely months to finish - you will have a first draft of a brand new story. And it will be a completely new story, not something you have worked on, imagined or written before. Until SSM my stories were autobiographical and derivative; with SSM I wrote my first "real" story. Characters appeared to me and did things I never planned for them. Scenes and settings materialized and developed. I was creating.
You will love this course. I guarantee it.
You can sign up for Sarah's course at her website Story is a State of Mind.
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