This was the "Fiction Shop II" offered at the Margaret Mitchell House in Atlanta. Currently only the beginner version of this class is offered.
David is a mystery writer, and I had heard him talk to the Georgia Writer's Association before I took this class, so I had some idea what I was getting into. I had also read his novel "Jass". Since then I have also read "Chasing the Devil's Tail" and "The Dying Crapshooters Blues", so I was well aware of David's style and his abilities.
I had only taken online classes before. One, from the Gotham Writer's group, was excellent. The other, from Algonkian, was terrible. This was my first class in-person with other writers, and for me that was the most valuable part of the experience. Yes, I am painfully shy. Reading in front of the other students and the teacher was a good experience for me.
Did I learn anything new? Not really. Once you get past the basic or even the journeyman level, it is hard to impart anything new to a student. But it is all good, and certainly worth the money.
David also did a "critique" of up to twenty pages after the class. I sent him two short stories, about eighteen pages. He sent back a nice cover letter, and what I would call a copy-edit of the pages. I have to admit that was a little disappointing. The copy-editing is so subjective, and the suggestions were few. I was hoping for some overall comments about the stories. Did they work? Were they engaging? and so forth.
Overall though, I thought the class was great and a good use of my time and money.
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