Writers Sketchbook at UCLA Extension

I thought I'd write a bit about the class I'm teaching now at UCLA Extension's Writers Program. It's called the Writers Sketchbook and it's the second time I'm teaching this class. It's a six-week class that focuses on what I call sensual writing - that is writing so that your readers can see, hear, smell, taste, and feel as they read your work. Readers should be able to imagine the scene you have created, experience what you are trying to express, take that journey along with you or your characters.

The class is an opportunity for students to fine tune their work, or to gather drafts. Many times, first drafts are skeletal and lack the type of sensual writing I'm talking about. Writers can flesh-out the "skeleton" to enrich their work.

Many people don't realize that it's not easy to create a sense of place or to describe a person. Today we focused on taste, and we read a food article from LA Times that went on about salt-roasting lobster, pork, etc. For our in-class exercise I had my students write about some food they hated or loved. What I was teaching them is the matter of Point of View - that is, there is no one way to describe a place or face or smell or taste or feeling - it's dependent on who the narrator is. We got excellent results.

The students are also trained to pay attention to details and to be specific.

I also have a good group of students!