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Most of you are probably aware of the Back to School classes I´m organizing. The third class, run by Inkling, is currently underway here.
I´m looking for more people to give classes on pretty much any topic you can imagine (and quite probably, a topic or two I, for one, cannot imagine). It doesn´t matter if you´re a professional with decades of experience or just an interested layman – I am neither an astronomer nor a “psychic” trickster, yet I ran classes on those topics anyway. All that matters is you know enough about a topic to teach it, and are willing to invest the time and effort to write and run a class.
Chaos wrote:Most of you are probably aware of the Back to School classes I´m organizing. The third class, run by Inkling, is currently underway here.I´m looking for more people to give classes on pretty much any topic you can imagine (and quite probably, a topic or two I, for one, cannot imagine). It doesn´t matter if you´re a professional with decades of experience or just an interested layman – I am neither an astronomer nor a “psychic” trickster, yet I ran classes on those topics anyway. All that matters is you know enough about a topic to teach it, and are willing to invest the time and effort to write and run a class.
Well, given your your criteria, I’d enjoy hosting a class on electronic music until someone more qualified shows up.
I can re-do (I’d rather repost, but I think the files are gone) the one I did on space travel a few years back.
Other topics–I don’t think I know enough to make these four-week courses or, if I do, what I know is so terribly specialized that it wouldn’t be interesting for a wide audience. However, I could essay something on the following:
Basic worldbuilding, with an optional math component (not including integral calculus! I think exponents and a natural logarithm are the highest the equations go). I see the first one as a discussion of worldbuilding in fiction (do you want to make a sandbox or do you need to fulfil a purpose?), and three sections that talk about the basic star-planet-moons thing, a bit about climates (I feel ignorant there) and a bit about biology.
Device interfaces: talking about making your fictional devices or magic spells more like something people actually created.
Magic (stagecraft) and hypnotism: Similar to the recent cold-reading class (perhaps too similar), talking about how some of these shows work. I don’t practice magic (any more), but I used to (though not at a performance level). (I am, by the way, a terrible hypnosis subject, but I’ve seen a show or two and I know a bit about self-hypnosis from classes and courses.
Writing and the dismal science: the basics of macroeconomics and where it touches our stories.
Hey, I can even talk about what it’s like to have an acoustic neuroma…but I’m not sure that’s more than two classes, and I’d have to research the treatment options in other countries.
Just to encourage other folks to become teachers, here are some things that I was considering researching, so if someone wanted to host a class on it, great!
Weather: this was inspired by a radio documentary about a “snow park” which existed to show people in a tropical area what the heck it was like to live in an area with snow. (And we locally are in the middle of a cold spell, which brought this to mind.) I’d love to see a bunch of people taking turns talking about their weather. For instance, if you’ve never seen snow, it’s not really obvious that I can easily tell the difference between packing snow and powder, that powder and few other kinds of snow squeak when you walk on it, that the humidity affects the quality of the snow, that snow removal is a budgeting headache, that snow squalls can lead to dangerous driving conditions or what black ice is. I am sure that someone in, say, the Phillipines has stuff she or he takes for granted but that I would be boggled by. (And I’m willing to coordinate this: if anyone else wants to share, I am willing to set this up, even as a thread over in world-building.)
Geneology: What are the different reasons that people have for wanting to track down geneology? What are some of the common arguments that descendants have? Research sources? Research tricks?
A history of common hardware: A lot of us write secondary-world fantasy or history. What technologies were available when, and to whom? When did doorknobs show up? Latches? Hinges? Who had them? What about locks? How did Vikings fasten the small door for corpses? What did people use for glues for laminates? What did they use instead of nails? Can you have a rock adze? Do you need a handle on it?
Archery: Besides the whole how-you-do-it thing, who used what bows? There are composite bows, long bows, recurve bows and who knows what all else. What’s the difference?
Odd weapons: What got used and why? Bolas were used in South America, but something similar was used in the marshes on the west coast of North America, I think. Where boomerangs used because of resource shortage or do they have other virtues? Ninjas used all kinds of interesting things, but what about other organizations of assassins or hunters?
Great at theory, terrible at practice.
I’m considering doing something, but I’m still very new, so I’m not quite sure which topics would be interesting or how exactly a class should look. Topics I could imagine doing include a general history class about the Late European Middle Ages, historical fighting techniques (for hist-fic and fantasy writers; I’ve found out that this was quite in demand during NaNoWriMo – I’m most familiar with swordfighting but know a bit about other medieval weapons, too, and about the tactics of the period) or something tech-related (I’m an IT journalist in real life, studied CS and mostly write about security/hacking-related topics).
So, if I could get some feedback if any of those would be interesting and how I should structure a class, that would be very helpful.
I_clausewitz did a course on archery on the old site — in 2008 and 2009, I think. Definitely could use a revisit!
I’m always looking for one-shot seminars all the way to full 4-week workshops. The Worldbuilding class would really fit in with them, as those workshops are all about the craft and business of writing.
Listing of classes we have planned so far is here: http://fmwriters.com/zoomfm/index.php/forum/announcements/80-upcoming-classes-and-workshops
Additional guidelines are here: http://www.fmwriters.com/zoomfm/index.php/forum/the-main-board/81-2013-classes-and-workshops-discussion
Let me know if you would like to develop it for a seminar or workshop.
J.A. Marlow
The String Weavers, Salmon Run, Redpoint One series.Writer alter-ego of Dreamers Cove
Sorry for taking so long to reply… :blush:
I have a class lined up for March now, but I could always use more… there´s always May, and July, and September, and so on
After the previous classes, and the one coming in March, I think posters here might appreciate a civilian-themed class for a change.
Annika, the security/hacking class sounds very interesting. I really know NOTHING about the subject, other than that I need to keep my antivirus software up to date.
jhmcmullen, I think your idea about the weather has great potential. We just came out of a cold spell here as well, and I spent way too much time during the last two weeks making sure nobody slip on ice and snow in the backyard of our office building – there´s a charity with lots of dear old lady volunteers in our basement, and we wouldn´t want anything bad to happen to them.
I was a professional genealogist, if that seems worth pursuing. I could write the course in my sleep – once I get time to sleep…
I am a professional Geologist (currently working in Seismic Processing). What kinds of things would people like to know about geology? or would a general overview be a good start point?
~Amber
Okay, I’m sure I can come up with something
just let me know about the schedule.Geology is one of my recent hobbies after I tried to understand an article about karst formations, got me an introductory book about geology and rocks, and now I think it’s a fascinating topic I should learn more about. So anything geology related would be fun.
Something I take special interest in is the method of georadar scanning (GPR) because that’s becoming a favourite tool for archaeologists, so a course or at least a lesson about methods of geological research would be interesting, too.
ErinMH wrote:I_clausewitz did a course on archery on the old site — in 2008 and 2009, I think. Definitely could use a revisit!I still have fond memories of that class. In the meantime, though, I’ve learned so many new things about archery and writing that the material I wrote back then feels outdated and inadequate, not the least because it tries to cover too much ground in one go.
Unfortunately, the teacher for March has dropped out due to real-life concerns.
As much as I am tempted to demand the impossible of others, I realize that putting a class together before next Monday is asking a bit too much – so unless a miracle happens (or I_clausewitz pulls a ready-made class out of his sleeve) I will repeat my old Astronomy class in March.
I am also still looking for a teacher for May.
Whoa. My sleeves aren’t that big these days. It’s a side effect of wearing (and making) better-fitted clothing, I say.
Seriously, though, I hope there’s somebody else who can pull off that miracle today!
l_clausewitz wrote:Whoa. My sleeves aren’t that big these days. It’s a side effect of wearing (and making) better-fitted clothing, I say.Seriously, though, I hope there’s somebody else who can pull off that miracle today!
Sadly, it does not look like anyone will.
I, for one, am already working miracles in my day job, so for Back to School, pulling off the merely impossible will have to be enough.
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