Why Creative Writing Coaching? I'll Tell You Why, As Plato

[I'm going to structure this one like Plato]

WRITER: No, just no. Not going to do it.

PLATO: Why?

WRITER: I know how to write. I've written ten novels and a thousand short stories. Creative writing is supposed to teach me how to write stories, right? I know that.

PLATO: That's not what creative writing coaching is about.

WRITER: What?

PLATO: It's not about the basics. It's about exercising. Like running on a treadmill.

WRITER: I hate running on a treadmill.

PLATO: This isn't about a treadmill. Creativity is something that needs exercise. It can get stale really fucking fast. Thousands of novels and short stories can become stale, repetitive, cliché. I took six creative writing courses in undergrad. I took other writing courses in grad school. Those didn't have any creative writing aspects. It was hell. No one was creative. Everyone did what you'd expect: kitchen sink dramas about cancer and abortion.

WRITER: I don't write that crap. I write sci fi.

PLATO: Sci fi can't get boring and cliché? Have you watched the SyFy channel? There's some great creative shit on that channel, but some of the worst writing you'll ever see. I'm not saying you suck or you're boring, but exercise is exercise. You need to get out of the box in order to remember that you're writing in a box. You need to talk with someone who knows what they're doing about bad SyFy channel movies and good ones. You need to do stuff that's scary and take chances.

WRITER: I do all kinds of prompt writing on Mastodon.

PLATO: With all due respect to the prompt writing on Mastodon, it's limited and, most of it, not demanding. Its intentions are entirely different than what I'm talking about. This is about creating something new and possibly BAD. Bad is absolutely GOOD, because it's only through failure (and understanding that we have failed) that we change and get better.

WRITER: You're full of shit and I can't afford it.

PLATO: $25/month.

WRITER: Wait, can I afford that?

PLATO: It's not only good for your brain, it's really fucking fun.