: Re: Is it necessary to take writing classes and learn formal fiction structure? This is an offshoot from a comment exchange on an unrelated question. What to submit when asked for "sample

@Bryan361

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Taking classes isn't vital. Learning to write well is. How you do that is up to you.

I have done a distance-learning writing course (until the company went out of business) and I learned a great deal from it. I have also read numerous blog posts and several books about writing. All these have good advice (usually). However, I don't think I have learned to write by reading them: I've learned to write by writing. Of course, I've taken the advice of others into consideration. Of course, I've read about fiction structure (most I've found unhelpful). But of course, I've written, revised and re-written to try to improve my writing.

I don't think there is one structure that 'works'. As an English teacher, I have read and taught numerous books. There isn't a single, successful structure. 'Heroes', by Robert Cormier, has the past and present tense narratives collide at a vital point. A Zane Grey novel (I can't remember the title) has the hero try to kill his loved one as an act of mercy just before the end. 'Macbeth' and 'Romeo and Juliet' may have followed an act structure in printed editions, but word counts and scene lengths were not obviously Shakespeare's concerns.

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