Start Writing Fiction MOOC - Week 3 done

The long and winding road ...?

This week in our Open University MOOC has been the most valuable of the course so far, largely because of an exercise in original writing with structured feedback from fellow students. I received three responses to the exercise I submitted yesterday (there's a brief mention of that in my previous post below). After sleeping on the comments of my reviewers I posted these thoughts to the MOOC discussion board.

I received three responses within an hour of lodging my first draft. That was both surprising and super-helpful. The guidance I received from my peers was made particularly effective because each one gave similar comments in more or less the same areas - 

• too many numbers and nerdy facts in my opening section, bordering on the tedious. How right. 
• Strong evocation of place. Phew. 
• Less strong (bordering on invisible) illustration of character ... oops on a course predicated on the centrality of character. 
• readers' interest returned when the nervous kangaroo pricked up its ears then looked north. Saved by an outback animal!

 My peers have really helped me to step back, look again at the text and ask myself what I'm attempting to do and, therefore, consider how best to pull off whatever that might be. I have asked myself if I truly have the germ of a story at all. In an earlier exercise I knew where my story would go; knew the last line. With this peer-reviewed exercise I've asked myself, 'where did you think you were going next?' 'How does it end? 

Do we need to be able to answer such questions before we start writing? I thought, maybe not but I'm now not so sure. 

Thank you reviewers. 

So ... still making progress, I hope. On to week four.