Some students had problems watching the third section of the Motivation course because it was embedded as a .mov file.
I’ve now changed it to match the embedding of the other files—you should have no difficulty watching now.
Login here to watch…if you’re a course grad, or on week five as a current student, you’ll find the link as TWC #2-Motivation at the top of your student page with the rest of your lessons.
The course offers a “Back to the Beginning” board for students who have either finished the course once and want to run through it again, or who had life land on their heads while they were taking it, and who want to start back at the beginning once things have calmed down.
The intro discussion to the board says:
Talk through what happened to you, find out what happened to others, offer support, tips, and encouragement.
From a deeply skeptical student:
I’ve never really believed in the concept of a “muse.” To be honest, I’ve always rolled my eyes a little bit when other writers start talking about their muse like it’s a roommate that lives down the hall. I am a left-brained logical person, and the concept of having a muse just made no sense.
When I decided to begin work on my sweet spot map for Lesson 2, I approached it with (surprise, surprise) a logical and methodical plan to complete it by the end of the week. I would work on one “segment” of the map each evening for 10 – 20 minutes. After 6 days, I would have the exercise completed.
So I sat down planning to work on “I fear.” For the first 10 minutes or so, I was only writing down the mundane and obvious. But I quickly realized that this was a necessary step. I was clearing away the vines, old branches, and dead leaves that were concealing a vast stone wall in my mind. Once all the garbage was cleared away, I punched a small hole in that wall…
Everyone can follow the link to read the rest of this Eureka moment.
If you’re among the number of students who have not been able to get to some or all of the forum boards you’re supposed to be able to reach, I’ve done major work on the boards today, hoping to fix this.
Please login to your account.
Then head over to the forum:
http://howtothinksideways.com/forum
If you can reach and use all the boards you’re supposed to be able to reach, excellent. You don’t need to let me know.
If you STILL can’t, however, please e-mail me directly at:
hollylisle AT gmail DOT com
Let me know your Student ID/Username, which boards you can’t reach, what browser you’re using, and what sort of error messages you receive.
Thank you,
Holly
A student started this technical discussion in class on the pitfalls and obstacles in changing a book from one point of view to another.
Has anyone had to go back and do a complete overhaul on POV? I think I may need to switch my point of view from first to third. I started the draft thinking it would be only from my MC’s POV, but as I got further along, I’m noticing scenes I want to add or revise that would be better from someone else’s perspective. (Maybe 25% of my scenes would be a different POV.)
I know that I CAN write multiple POVs in first person, but I know it can be confusing. I’m not sure that my book qualifies as being the exception to the rule.
Students and grads, login and click here to join the discussion.
If you’re a student who has reached at least Lesson 5, or a course grad, Section 1 of THE WRITING CRAFT: How To Motivate Yourself is now available in the classroom. You’ll find it listed with your lessons as TWC #2- Motivation.
Just log in and you’ll find it.
IF YOU HAVE NOT YET REACHED LESSON 5, please be patient. It will arrive on the same day as your Lesson #5.
The Sweet Spot Map is an early-course technique that generates a LOT of fascinating revelations for writers who are exploring their own best writing themes.
The linked discussion is personal and in depth, with writers presenting the results of their explanations for the technique.
From a current student:
I’m curious. Do you have a writing playlist?
Or do you have several, one per book? Or even one per character per book? One for action scenes, one for quiet scenes?
Do you listen to songs in a language you can understand, or does that distract you and you prefer instrumental music or songs in a language you don’t understand?
Tons of discussion on this. Students log in and visit the conversation.