How did you learn to write well?

[Terri2]

I don't mean simply learning how to read and write in elementary school. I mean, how did you learn how to write as a profession or hobby? Was it in school? Through practice? Or, something else?

Are you still learning?

[LoveHatesYou]

I'm still learning!

[kaytie]

Hey, Terri2,

I learned by reading extensively, then training myself to read as a writer. By that I mean, reading to see how published authors conveyed what they wanted to convey, how their words succeeded in or failed to move me, how each piece contributed to the whole.

It ruined reading for a while, but eventually I got to a place where I could think critically about what I was reading at the same time I enjoyed it.

I also went to graduate school for creative writing, but I'd say that I didn't learn anything there I couldn't have learned in a strong writing group. Learning from others is a great way to learn your own strengths and weaknesses.

[Eastwood]

kaytie, I don't know you yet, but I think you're my heroine: You took the words directly from my mouth! Very well-put.

One thing I would like to suggest is to read June Casagrande's Grammar Snobs Are Great Big Meanies. It's absolutely hilarious and gives us what we need to grow as writers. I frequently rank the books I read (in my head) and never has a self-help book reached the top 5...until this one. Also, Stephen King's On Writing is an excellent read. Not stuffy and it gives an all-around overview of writing, IMO.

[msstroda]

I feel I am still learning even though I have had my work published in a number of venues. I don't think we ever stop learning our craft and that the more we learn the better we become.

[Kyle22]

I think school can only teach you to write with better spelling and grammar. Of course, writers will always need editors anyway. The only way to learn how to write well is through practice and by getting feedback from your readers.

[AstonWest]

Still learning, as Kyle mentioned, through practice and feedback. Also picking up some techniques (and some never-use techniques) from reading other authors.

[Syrcco44]

I think I will never stop learning until the day I die. There are so many philosophies out there about a myriad topic such as writing that the learning will be continuous.

I know that my biggest source of learning was reading. Read, always! This helps so much! Another thing was writing - writing as much as possible. Everyone is right here - practice and get feedback.

A good website on the basics:
http://users.wirefire.com/tritt/

There are so many more websites out there -- and books. I'll post some more when I think of them.

[Hope]

I think I'd never stop learning, as long as I'm reading. I also think that it simply could be a gift. Some are just destined to write well, and others well.. just aren't.

[Syrcco44]

I think I'd never stop learning, as long as I'm reading. I also think that it simply could be a gift. Some are just destined to write well, and others well.. just aren't.

Not really. I don't think you need to be a prodigy child to write well. It takes some time and practice - any author could tell you about their own not-so-great beginnings. Good books don't have to come from those with a natural gift. Also I don't think that writing is an innate thing, necessarily. It comes with learning, time, practice, finishing.



I found some great advice from Jennifer Donnelly - author of A Northern Light - among other books:

There’s only one thing that makes you a writer – and that's writing.


Writing – any kind of writing: journals, term papers, letters to your grandmother – will hone your ability with words. As you keep writing, you'll learn how to do more with less. You'll get a feel for simplicity and elegance, when to let rip and when to hold back, and how the subtle art of suggestion can lend incredible power to a paragraph or scene. These are all things I still struggle with. I have a tendency to overwrite, but when I do nail a scene, I can sense it, and it's a tremendous feeling.


Reading is also incredibly important. It shows you how other writers do it, how they succeed and where they fail. Whether it's a novel, a newspaper article or the copy on the back of a cereal box – it's all writing. Someone had to think about it and make choices. It's your job as a reader to decide how well the author did. You may not be aware of it, but every time you get lost in a story, or intrigued by a magazine article, you're also picking up pointers on structure, plot, and style. I couldn't afford to go to grad school, or take a workshop when I started trying to write, so I used what was available to me – good books.


Another crucial key to writing is finishing what you start. Lots of kids, and older people, too, tell me that they have so many stories started. Started is good. Beginnings are good. But you have to finish. Finishing is what makes the difference between ideas and books. Force yourself to sit down at your desk – glue your butt to your chair – and work through the problems. It's very important. It's very good discipline. It forces you to see an idea through from beginning to end and to do the hard work of bringing the various threads of the story together in a satisfying way. Do this and you’ll become more confident in your ability to tell a story. The problems of structure and plot and narrative drive may not get easier for you – they certainly haven’t gotten any easier for me and I’m on my fourth novel – but with experience and a bit of confidence, you’ll become braver about facing them…and besting them.


Lastly, listen to your own thoughts and feelings very carefully, be aware of your observations, and learn to value them. When you're a teenager – and even when you're older – lots of people will try to tell you what to think and feel. Try to stand still inside all of that and hear your own voice. It's yours and only yours, it's unique and worthy of your attention, and if you cultivate it properly, it might just make you a writer.

http://www.jenniferdonnelly.com >> this information was found on her FAQ

[Tracey Neal]

I write, I've been writing since I was 5, and good or bad I continue to write. B/c what may seem like total rubbish to me today, might end up being my greatest achievement as a writer, if it means something to someone else. I love words. I spend a good bit of time studying words sometimes. Words are life!! They make memories last...they break hearts...they make you fall in love...move you to tears...take you into the abyss...make one shout...but silence some...they cause war..pain...but hope too...words are EVERYTHING...words are life. And so I write...I write words.

[roddglenn]

We're all always constantly learning. It mainly comes from reading a lot and also from trial and error - lots and lots of practice. A basic grounding of grammar helps of course.

[sportsguy33]

To be writers, we have to be readers. If one isn't a good reader, then there's no way you can be a good writer, especially without the knowledge of how to write a basic, structured sentence.

I learned how to write from reading. But even before I became an avid reader I use to be an avid writer, even if what I wrote was sloppy and nonsensical; I just had some decent ideas.

[Writer44]

The chicken and the egg. I learned to write by reading, as many have stated above. Oddly enough, I can't remember learning to read. Certainly I wasn't born knowing how to read but I can remember just flipping through those books in first grade and thinking, man, this is easy.

But someone had to write the books that we all read to learn how to write. So those early writers must have been outright geniuses because what did they have to read?

Not being a historian, I would guess the earliest writers inherited the skills from the oral tradition of story telling. Imagine keeping an entire story in your head and telling it to a live audience who may express their displeasure on the spot. No editor to filter and protect. That's pressure and it probably made for sorting the best from the worst.

Rambling to an end here, read all you can and make a point of writing with your own voice, that one that talks to the person through the page.

[aerobookclub]

I practice my writing skills after reading a lot of books.