Learning to Write

I was accepted into the Sacramento Renaissance Society's creative writing class, "How to Write Best-Selling Fiction." It is a half-semester course that started on October 25, and we've met exactly twice. The lectures are based on the Great Courses series of the same name, but we will definitely NOT be able to cover all 24 lectures in 6 weeks! The instructor will cover story arc and plot, character development, dialogue, beginnings, description, satisfying endings, and formatting work for submission.

Some of the students are already partway through their stories/novels; I know nothing, having taken literature courses in college, but not writing classes. I am not interested in publishing a novel, but I already see how applying a story arc and plot structure to the stories I tell will make them stronger and more appealing. I'm sure the units on character development and dialogue will add to the tool arsenal.

My biggest problem now is coming up with a story to use in class that will let me practice all the techniques we are learning about. I'm already a week behind! I'm thinking I will select a family story I want to tell, and use it as the guinea pig. I hope I can apply what I learn this semester to my memoir techniques next semester - assuming it is offered again.

So onward! I need a problem, a "doorway of no return", conflict, a second "doorway of no return", and a resolution to the problem.  How many family stories can be fitted into this structure easily? It will be a challenge to see if I can make it work. In the remaining 4 weeks of class.