Looking back over my time at university it’s fair to say I learnt a fair bit – though probably more about myself than about English or Creative Writing. Now I think about it I’m not quite sure why I stuck with the Creative Writing part of my degree. Of everything I did for my degree the actual Creative Writing part was probably the worst. And the reason why? Because you can’t teach people how to write!
Sure, you can teach people grammar, and how to put words on a page, but actual writing – the sort of stuff people want to read?
I still remember that painful first day where our post-grad lecturer went round the room asking us all what writing experience we had. Other than myself, not a single person in our seminar group had written more than a side of A4.
A side of A4.
For those of you not familiar with the way Creative Writing groups work, each week you’d be set a writing task then the following week you’d share your work with the group for comment and criticism. This is all well and good if the group members are passionate about their subject and have something to offer, but when all anyone can think to say it “yeah it’s good” the whole thing becomes a bit of a farce. Add to this the fact that after the first few weeks very few people actually bothered to write anything at all and you get something that amounts to an abysmal waste of time.
In all honesty, I could write for hours on the subject of Creative Writing groups, but that wasn’t quite the point of my blog.
My point is this: if you are passionate about writing, you will write. You don’t need a creative writing group to teach you to write; nor do you need a pile of expensive textbooks. Trust me, I’ve read quite a few of these so-called “How to write” books, and most of them are a waste of time.
As with so many things in life, the best advice is often free. Here then, is my advice to you all:
- Read. Read everything you can get your hands on. Expand your range of reading beyond the things you are comfortable with. Read 19th century literature; read 21st century chic-lit; read trashy newspaper columns; read philosophy. The more you read, and the more you take in, the better you will become. Learn to become critical of everything. This isn’t to say you don’t have to enjoy what you read, but try to pick up writing strategies in whatever you read. Even the worst book in the world can teach you something, even if what it teaches you is how not to write. Bad writing can be as useful to a writer as good writing – not only does it allow you to learn from others’ mistakes, but it can also make you feel better about yourself.
- Write. Write for all you are worth. Share it if you like, but most of all: write. If you don’t enjoy something in life, don’t do it. For me, writing is a very special, personal thing. Each and every day I suffer doubt – probably more than I should, but this is perfectly natural, as by engaging in the art of writing we are each of us baring our souls to the world. Even by writing this blog I am, in a sense, sharing a small part of myself with you all. To become a writer you must inure yourself against criticism, but at the same time you must be prepared to learn. As writers we are at once both the hardiest and the most fragile people in the world.
So there you have it, my advice to you all: read and write. Sounds simple, but there’s a whole lot more to it than you may think. While it’s fair to say I don’t think Creative Writing groups are necessarily the best thing for every writer, this is not to say that writing groups in themselves are a bad thing. This is why I am so keen to help out here on Limebird. Not only does it give me a good chance to share what I’ve learnt, but it also gives me motivation to do more writing of my own!
If you have any thoughts on this blog, or any questions at all, feel free to comment below, or perhaps even start a thread in the forum.
Good luck!
Mike
