Thursday, June 20, 2019

Lies They Tell Writers, Part 50: Enroll today! You, too, can learn to be a writer!

There’s one thing that’s sorely lacking in my career as a writer: an education.
Beyond what they taught us all back in my day with those dreaded “Themes” in high school (and elementary school and junior high) I am unschooled in writing.
I confess a reasonably good grounding in journalistic-type scribbling, as I earned a degree in the subject in college (between rodeoing and activities best not mentioned).
Still, I can put together a passable assemblage of words now and then. Don’t ask me how or why. But it certainly didn’t come from attending one of those fancy creative writing programs where so many people who want to write enroll, lured by all manner of lofty promises. I know people who have done that, and they tend to hem and haw, fuss and fritter, plan and procrastinate, and talk about writing rather than write.
I read something some time ago about creative writing programs that might help explain that. It references poetry in particular, but I think it applies to creative writing in general. This quotation pretty much sums up what a fellow named Louis Menand wrote in the New Yorker:
Creative-writing programs are designed on the theory that students who have never published a poem can teach other students who have never published a poem how to write a publishable poem.
Sounds about right to me. As I have opined before, you can learn more about good writing by reading the writing of good writers.
Pay attention. They know how to do it.





6 comments:

  1. I took two creative writing classes at university (BYU and Weber State). The first one gave me good ideas, and the second one taught me how to sell. I think they were well worth my time.

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    1. Whatever works, Carla. No doubt there is something to be learned from any course or program.

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  2. I completely agree, Rod. It goes back to the old saw, "Those who can—do. Those who can't—teach." It applies to most fields including writing. The best education a writer can get is to read, and the second best is to send their work to a competent editor. That's not to say that some people don't learn something in creative writing programs, but I honestly suspect they would have learned more and faster simply reading the classics.

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    1. You're right about competent editors, Dennis. There are some good ones, if you can find them.

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  3. As you suggest, Rod, the best creative writing course includes two major elements: Read and Write ... Write and Read.

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