ROW80-2 - 05/04 - Characters
May 04, 2014
I just finishing the first week of a MOOC, Start Writing Fiction. I signed up because it promised a focus on character generation - something I need. It has lived up to it's promise so far - in a way. There is some good content, but the lessons and exercises are not that innovative in design. Biggest fail, as mentioned before, is the lack of a forum community for interaction with other writers. Each of the 15 sections in Week 1 has a comment section at the end, but with well over 1000 comments to each one all you can do is read and respond to the last few - there are no forum 'threads' to sort things into. Plus, these comments are used to submit assignments - with a 1200 character limit. Good training to be concise I suppose, but annoying. This is an Open University Course, from FutureLearn - I took another of their courses - Introduction to Forensic Science, by U, of Strathclyde. Not very well designed either in some parts, and, again, no forum. I've taken a few Coursera courses - all well designed, all use a forum for interaction on each module, as well as feedback and support questions.
Back to characters now - this week was how to observe and write about characters. When I was in my local coffee shop, I sat across from a 'little old lady' and her attentive son. It looked like they were on an outing from the retirement home. It was touching to watch, as I was reminded of my mom and I a few years ago. I watched and took notes, and even grabbed a cell-phone picture to jog my memory later.
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Publishing
- Editing soon - alpha reader almost finished. Have been doing quick review of her work as she sends sections back. Looking good - I mean lots of additions and deletions but good ones.
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Help other's publish. Got my busker's licence, so now I'm a street performer. Looking forward to June 1 reading with anticipation and a bit of panic.
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Went down to see Kirk's Landing on shelf at local Chapters store - see above image. I re-arranged so it was cover out too.
- Scribd -my book is in there now too. It's sort of a Netflix for books, in that you pay a monthly fee and download unlimited books to their reader app. I get a nice chunk for every book that's read at least to the 30% mark.
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Writing
- ROW80 check in - on time!
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Reading - Finished crime novel If Angels Fall. Great book, review up on Goodreads.
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How to write - still keeping up to date with writer/editor/publisher blogs I follow.
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Other
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Exercise - spring is here. As is the rain.
- Courses - Still catching up. Doing new one via The Open University, Start Writing Fiction. See above comments.
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Other entertainment. Watched a few NHL playoffs games, but already getting bored. Don't really see the point of watching organized sports, and have other ways I prefer to spend my time.
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Social - Coffee shop, cafe, pubs, grandkids. Went to a local Mensoid dinner - haven't gone in months. Small crowd, and they were half an hour late. Saturday I met my daughter, grandson, hubby at a local landmark, the Prescott, for Reuben, beer, and Habs game. Very nice - he's really quite cute. The grandson.
Sounds like you've been keeping extra busy, Mike. Interesting little snip of everyday life you've got there about the mother/son couple...
As for FutureLearn vs. Coursera... I haven't taken any Coursera courses, but I have taken some FutureLearn ones. I agree, the Intro to Forensics was a bit disorganized, but having taken a Shakespeare class via them lately, I have to say I enjoyed the actual teachers a lot. I've also tried other Open Courseware and those were...
The forum idea would be a big improvement though for FutureLearn. Maybe we should mention it in the comment sections. :-D
Posted by: Eden Mabee | May 06, 2014 at 03:27 PM