Most writers, of course, learned to write in school—the teacher stuck a pencil in their hand and showed them how to form the letters. Another teacher later on taught them about words and sentences and parts of speech and punctuation.
Of course, everyone learns those things, and not everyone goes on to want to be a writer. Personally, I learned a lot from writing—a lot. I wrote all through high school. I wrote in my freshman year of college, and then I drifted away from writing for several years while I finished school, got married, and started my family, though somewhere in the back of my mind, I still wanted to be a writer.
And of course, I’ve learned a lot in other ways as well. Writer’s conferences are a lot of fun and extremely useful, but most of the time aren’t designed to hit the techniques very hard (unless you go to a more one-on-one track). Critiques from trusted friends (and strangers!) have been invaluable.
And then there are the books, of course. I hit the public library and read almost every writing technique book they had, my favorites being How to Write a Damn Good Novel and How to Write a Damn Good Novel, II by James N. Frey, and Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass, among others that escape me now.
But honestly, even these things are kind of advanced—they don’t, for example, cover basic things like showing vs. telling. And, um, I’ve kind of forgotten how I learned that.
So how did you learn writing—the basics and the advanced stuff?
Photo by Schmorgie13
I’ve been writing little stories all my life, but with work commitments and a family there was no time to take it seriously. When my children left the nest I bought my first computer. Yay! Spell and grammar check. I left school at age fourteen and never learned to write properly. The first thing I did was to check out writing forums. I came across Absolute Write and Critique Circle and bought myself The Pocket Basics for English, by Lyn Magree. I read as many books on writing as I could and studied children’s books. What helped me the most was joining a critique group. Other writers are so eager to help. They’re awesome! They taught me grammar, how to show and not tell, not to have too many characters in a children’s book, POV problems, and best of all, they showed me how to critique.
Then my wonderful writing buddies encouraged me to submit my manuscripts and encouraged me to have a blog. That’s when I found Jordan McCollum and all her wonderful writing tips. I can’t believe I’ve learned all this in three years, and that I’ve actually completed two MG novels. I’m still looking for an agent and publisher and I’m still learning along the way. I’m happy and so grateful.
Uh….I’m still waiting for that to happen.
My question is, “WHEN will I learn how to write.” 🙁
And yes, I’m back from my NaNo hiatus…a freshly written manuscript in hand 🙂
A lot of stuff I learned simply from reading like a bookworm as a kid. The flow of language and ideas lodged itself in my brain little by little, and now it’s like a template I can use to help me form my own writing.
The bulk of my recent knowledge has come from equal parts blog reading, conference attending, and group critiquing. Each of these three areas is invaluable in themselves, but they work best when used together so they can compliment each other.
Basics: just doing it lots.
Advanced stuff: going to workshops and conferences helped. So did reading lots of books. But the biggest help was getting into a critique group, hands down.
Ummm, I’m still learning. I think even highly evolved and published writers still have something to learn.
I’m into reading “Bird by bird” at the moment, followed by Bradbury’s book on writing, followed by…another & another. The learning process is never ending, I feel. And I’m OK with that. 😉
PS: What are MG novels? (Trish commented on those)
I learned by writing. I did the university thing, but didn’t realize how little I learned there until I joined a writer’s group online in 1994. That was an eye-opener. I think critiques taught the most. Then I got my hands on some great little books: Writing and Selling Your Novel by J. Bickham, Stein on Writing, Breathing Life, On Writing by Stephen King, Bird by Bird, Writing the Breakout Novel.
There are more. I think the most important element is passion. If you have the passion to be the best possible writer you can be, you’re overcome the fear and all the other things that will try to stop you.
Thanks, Jordan.
T, MG stands for “middle grade”–so a bit younger than Young Adult, but much older than chapter books (which would be like the Magic Tree House series). Jessica Day George’s books are classified as MG.
Now that’s a really good question, Jordan. I don’t think I’ve ever stopped to consider the “how”. I used to write sappy poems as a child, and little short stories, “just because”. I had a diary as a teenager and kept journals of special times/trips as a young adult. I loved school assignments that involved writing essays and I went on to major in English. Somewhere in my young married years I started writing devotionals and eventually added magazine articles. I was writing but I really had no idea about “how” it should be done.
When I decided to write my first novel I just wrote. It wasn’t until I began editing it that I decided I should find out what professionals said about the process. I think my very first “how to” book was Nigel Watts’ “Writing a Novel”. I still have it. I recall him saying that while the philosophy of writing a novel is easy, the process isn’t; that you can’t write a novel per se, but must nurture an idea and wait for it to grow. It was in that book that I first recall being given the definition of the term “author”… from the Latin “auctor” meaning “one who makes to grow”.
Since then I’ve read *a lot* of books, attended conferences, followed the blogs of agents, editors and other writers, and written umpteen articles and three novels. I’m not sure that I know “how” even yet, but I just keep learning and doing, things I’m pretty sure will continue for the rest of my days. 🙂
As with most people who’ve responded, I learned the basics in school and by just spending hour upon hour upon hour indulging my imagination and putting words down on paper—in addition to being a voracious fiction reader.
What moved me from hobbyist to professional, though, was attending grad school and being mentored by two published authors (one who spent a year breaking me down and forcing me to break all my bad habits and learn good techniques/craft skills, and the other who spent a year encouraging me and building my confidence) and working with a multitude of critique partner as well as having my writing critiqued by writers from every genre—including horror, fantasy, sci-fi, etc. It taught me that while I have to write stories that I enjoy and that are true to my voice, my likes and dislikes, I can’t just write for me. I have to write with my specific reader (my “audience”) in mind. That’s what spurs me on when deadlines loom: my readers are waiting for these stories, and I have to give them the best experience possible. That, in itself, is a great educator!
i write from the heart , my experiences , my visualizations , my hopes.I agree friends critiques are invaluable .
However is so valuable to follow inner knowledge, inspiration and intuition.