neil-gaiman:

Really good comedy is very, very serious and really deep. So learn what you can, and know that you can take what you learn back to comedy one day.

UGH, shit like this is why I fucking hate 90% of creative writing classes. Yes I’ve found one really good one in my time, but the vast majority are disgruntled writers who should not be allowed to tell other writers what to do, especially not beginners. Hint: The only thing you should be telling a beginner writer is that their work is great but still growing, and they should continue to work hard telling the stories they want to tell, and as many as possible so they continue to grow and learn. 

Writing teachers like the one OP describes infuriate me because how dare you tell a writer what they should or shouldn’t write! What an abuse of your authority and the trust placed in you as a teacher. Not to mention such ugly, self-important and subjective advice. 

Telling someone how you would write something is not the same as critiquing or giving suggestion on how to improve a piece. Any teacher or critiquer should be extremely careful and always distinguish that this is how they would do it and not necessarily useful critique advice. It’s really hard to turn off the corner of your brain that says “I would have done it this way.” I get it. But experienced writers can distinguish the difference and act accordingly, with beginners the more experienced person must assume the responsibility of clarifying this. 

Of course OP has already been responded to by the illustrious Neil Gaiman, but if they do see this, I’d also add that they should continue writing whatever they want. Maybe someday “deeper” realizations will arise in their work as writers, but it should never be because some “teacher” like this one told you to and made you doubt your work. These revelations of how you want to improve will come in their own time and I’m furious that this person made you doubt your work and, heaven forbid, if they made you doubt yourself as a writer at all. We lose so many promising writers to critiques like this which are so premature and self-centered. I agree with Neil: take what you can, but do not see this teacher as an authority or at all reflective on your true potential. Your true potential is brought out by hard work, and hard work is applied passion. Write what you want to write about, and write a lot of it!