Last week Rebecca Hargreaves, a blogger I follow, asked her readers whether or not she should take an advanced writing class. (http://bit.ly/cwWq2c) This post and the lively comments that ensued got me to thinking about how a writer trains to be a successful writer. As an academic who went through eleven years of post secondary education to become a professional historian, I have always been bemused by the thought that I could become a professional fiction writer without even one college level writing class, yet I suspect my serious lack of formal training is not unusual. I did take a college extension novel writing class over 20 years ago when I started the first draft of Maids of Misfortune, and I did find the class useful because it taught me how to find agents, write query letters, and generally what Read more…