Wednesday 19 August 2009

Fiction Portfolio

A couple of days ago I had to hand in a portfolio of my writing to try to get into a fiction workshop. I have noticed this course on the Undergraduate Calendar for years but never had the courage to apply to take it. I once, in a pathetically small bout of bravery, looked up what was necessary to enrol, found out that a portfolio was to be submitted to gain acceptance into the course, and promptly lost my nerve to do anything further. While I feel I am a creative person, I do not spend every waking moment of spare time writing stories, and tons of people do. These people will be also in this class. I am scared of them and their talent. As you may have seen from my blog, I have occasionally found myself in the mood to write a very bad poem or two. Obviously, I have spent the last 10 years writing essays for various courses in high school and university but before my preparation for this portfolio I had not fleshed out a short story since elementary school. I have written pieces of fiction but nothing with a plot or characters. On Always Standing I often retell biographical stories, write descriptive passages, and journal my travels. I have ideas for stories and do not doubt my ability to think of things to write about. I do fear that I may lack the talent to write fiction. I am out of practice and have had no instruction on how to create, write, or structure a story. This course would definitely be a challenge, one that I am more than a little frightened about taking. I hope I get in though because writing fiction is really something that would be fun to learn!! If I do get in I want to be able to share my stroies on my blog, but I can't really figure out how to do that at the moment...

1 comment:

Anonymous said...

I hope you get in Chris! I'm sure your portfolio is better than you think it is. Do I get to read that short story you had to write a couple of weeks ago? Can you send it my way sometime?

xoxo Teri