>be me
>take writing fiction workshop at university
>submit my last story ever to the class
>decide to base my fictional short story about my travels in a foreign country
>base the descriptions on what I personally saw and experienced
>incorporate said descriptions all throughout my story
>fast forward to workshop
>everyone seems to think theyre more travelled than I am
>they say my descriptions aren’t realistic, despite their never having been to the country in which it takes place
>they tell me to do more research about the country and focus on improving my descriptions, as they aren’t realistic
>I just sit there absolutely dumbfounded at how ridiculous everyone sounds
>I decide to not even tell them that I actually went to said country and based it on my experiences
>mfw
Be me
spongefag
>take writing fiction workshop at university
stopped reading there
Why didn't you stand up for yourself?
this
Absolutely.
I don't even browse Veeky Forums normally, and I know from experience that undergrad creative writing classes are bullshit.
Most workshops are structured so that the writer has to be silent until the class is done discussing the piece. Like OP said, he *could* have done it when he was given his chance, but he didn't want to.
What country? What did they doubt?
Kek, reminds me of the time I wrote stories about growing up in the South and people said that it was weird that I would include so much about trucks, football and hunting (those things were not the crux of the stories).
sorry yours sucked but my creative writing classes were good
That means one of two things:
Your classmates are tards, and you should have politely pointed out that you have more firsthand experience.
OR
Your descriptions, though based in reality, were poorly executed and your choice of detail felt unreal in a more general sense than just their preconceived notion of the country.
Similar thing here.
>go to small private college in the Southern Indiana
>no one thinks much about me including redneck culture
>go to MFA in a metropolitan area
>I'm seen as almost southern gothic
Also, this.
>be me
>write story about Spanish soldiers lost in Morocco
>Student tells me my story is bad because colonialism was bad and I shouldn't have wrote from the Spaniard's perspective
>mfw
Honestly I like to gripe but those were fun classes. Some people were really good at writing and I improved a lot.
there is a sign man, I stop reading your original post after 3 lines. There is a sign, a sign...
Creative writing class taught me that rich kids make for shitty writers. I constantly heard shit like "I'm sorry but I can't sympathize with a character who spanks their kid" or "would a grandpa really call their gay grandson a faggot I mean I don't know about you guys but my grandparents are pretty progressive" or "how realistic is it that a 12 year-old would say 'fuck' because I didn't even know the f word until I was in middle school" or "is it really realistic that the dad would care about how much dinner costs? Denny's is so cheap that you can't really overspend I don't think."
Anybody who lacks empathy and perspective outside of their own lives they'll make a shit writer. A madpoor who is totally unaware of how life works above $40k a year would probably make some blunders as well. I only say this to save you the same issues as them, but reversed.
Also, most of your complaints don't actually involve money.
>spanking
>faggot
>fuck
All are just from being raised in a librul household. I lived in a poor librul area and it was much the same.
To be clear, none of those were from my writing. Just things I heard in the class. I do think it has to do with money/class, though. If you're from a rough neighborhood you're not going to make it to age 12 without hearing the word "fuck."
True, I just playing devils advocate.
I know I didn't make it to 12 without saying fuck.
That doesn't sound like rich. That sounds like firmly boring middle-class. Rich people in my experience do and say what they feel like more than middle-class people, who tend to be insecure and anxious to appear "correct" at all times.
Social climbers are the worst.
>leased base model BMW
>big, tasteless house
>cheap furniture
>wear as many brands of clothes as possible that have logos
>dinner plate sized watch that still has a quartz movement
>muh school of hard knocks
>muh street-savvy
>muh rough diamonds
...
I'm not saying lower middle class people are the salt of the earth or anything. I just think it makes you a shitty writer (and reader, too) if you can't have basic empathy for characters/situations different from your own.
very true