Thread: Can Writing Be Taught?

I'm curious as to what education people have in respect to English or Composition, or literary workshops or something of that order. I've always been of the opinion that writing can't be taught, and that most English teachers are wasting their sweet time after their students are old enough to not need spelling tests, but a lot of my friends insist that it made them the writers that they are.
I've got a very good friend studying for an English and Creative Writing BA at the moment and she says it's the best experience of her life so far. She loves it not for its content, but for the people that she gets to meet and the freedom that she has to write whatever tripe takes her fancy and not have to feel that she should tidy it up or hide it away.


I, myself, have zip. I've got an English GCSE like everybody else in England, but that's it. (Which may be painfully obvious to some of you, and you just haven't told me yet. Ha!)
I've considered taking a fiction workshop every now and then, but the thought of meeting other aspiring writers makes me feel even more of a novice, not because of my arrogance (mostly) but because I've met, like everybody else, so many people who tell me that they're planning on writing a novel and are 'going to take a class or whatever'.
But I hear good things about those workshops, and I'm trying to keep my mind open.

What about you? Education? Taken a workshop, or a PhD? Can writing really be taught at all, or is it something that only you can teach yourself?

Hey Felix,

I've taken a handful of Creative Writing classes, and also a few workshops. I found them helpful at first, but then I began to see diminishing returns. As far as workshops go, I think this site is the best I've come across (and the most affordable, as well!), in terms of quality of feedback, and sense of community.

In regards to your discussion topic, I think good writing can be taught, but I don't think being taught is required to be a good writer. That is to say, I think one can become a good writer with or without lessons.

I feel the distinguishing features of a good writer are: a unique perspective, and a unique voice. And I think we all have this, naturally, as a result of living our own lives. The rest just comes down to a matter of technique.

I feel I've learned the most from the various books on writing I've read. I remember a thread on here earlier where it was debated whether or not "how to" books on writing were beneficial.. I think they definately are. If you want some recommendations I will gladly throw them your way.

As for workshops, I don't think you should worry about being a novice. My experiences were always positive. I find it hard to imagine a workshop where members would discourage someone for being (or feeling) new to the process. Likely the opposite.

No formal training aside from the fundamentals during grade school. Everything I learned about fiction writing I learned from various books on the craft, and by browsing websites such as this, and critiquing. When I discover a story or a simple passage of writing I like, I study it and try to figure out why I like it. That last bit is important. You can read tons of books and write alot, but if you never do any self-reflection you're probably not getting the most out of the experience.

Personally, I don't put much stock in talent. I think writers of all skill levels, even the runaway brilliant ones, are made.

You can teach the craft but you can't teach the imagination. Learning the craft properly means that the imagination can let rip without you having to worry about which way to turn the nut to tighten it on the bolt. Anybody who tells you that you don't need to know how to spell and punctuate, to parse a sentence so that it makes sense to the reader is lying. For natural writers and talkers, parsing a sentence is second nature, but if you don't have the building blocks...

Learning the craft of writing is analagous to learning to oil paint, if you don't know how to prepare the canvas, how to mix the pains and use the brushes you will waste time and effort trying to learn these things at the expense of the vision in the process of painting - Far better to unconsciously know the how and let the spirit run free. What Peter Alliss describes as conscious and unconscious competence.

Of course writing can be taught, but probably not in a classroom.

My writing education began at the dinner table where my grandfather asked for stories and poems to be composed on the spot. The stories' grammar had to be correct. The poems' syllable count, rhyme, and rhythm had to meet strict specifications. In everything the images had to be clear. Limericks were a favourite teaching tool. A subject would be announced as the potatoes were passed, and before the end of the meal a properly constructed Limerick with opening, body, and conclusion had to be presented. Consider the Limerick as a five line, rhymed short story, or a five line rhymed essay, built on a rigid rhythmic framework.

Thus my grandfather laid the foundation. He taught me the basics of writing, of putting one word after another in a fashion that informed, or challenged, or entertained. Later in high school I began writing for the local newspapers. The editors continued my education in the craft of writing. They taught me the more advanced skills I needed, and guided me so that I could continue to sharpen those skills. Thus I was taught writing in a practical way as a means of making a living. My teachers were not in a lecture hall, but they were teachers all the same.

Later in university I majored in English and History. The English courses strengthened my understanding of the language and the history courses provided the background needed for much of my later writing.

I've never taken a creative writing class and I've never read a book on 'how to write'. The only writing workshops I've attended are the ones I've led.

Writing needs to be learned in the real world, the one we live in. Writing can be taught, but probably not in a classroom.

Hello felix,

Bloggsworth says it well when he says you can teach the craft but you can’t teach the imagination. I believe a writer is born. We can write (as in create/imagine/put things together) or we can’t. But we have to learn to be dedicated, learn to be self-critical, learn to edit, learn the grammar, the basics.

Like the wonderful johnMG, I have no training, only a basic school education. But I’ve written since I physically could, from about seven or eight. I can remember being three, in the back of the car, and making stories up before I even knew my ABC, pretending the trees were people.

Everything inspires me. Everything I witness or experience, I want to write about.

On this alone, mixed with teaching myself grammar and posting work to be critiqued here, I’ve won a few writing competitions and been published in a handful of UK magazines. I wrote a newspaper column for ten years, just because I sent some work to the editor and was a bit ballsy.

Unlike johnMG, I believe in talent. You have it or you don’t. Like, I can’t sing and it doesn’t matter what you do with me, show me, teach me… I just can’t sing.

I'm currently in my 3rd year of studying English and Classical Studies, at the end of the next semester I'll have my degree and hopefully I'll be going on to do an MA in Creative Writing.

I'm severely dyslexic (or at least, I was, I don't really know how to qualify it now because it doesn't really effect my life that much) and couldn't read/write until I was around 10 or so. My parents were told that I would be doing amazingly well if I could read 3 letter words by the time I was 12. A year after this I was reading at a level that surpassed my classmates by several years and havn't stopped reading since.

I always loved stories, hearing or telling them. I had story tapes that I would demand be played in the car, I had bedtime stories read to me every night and I had an amazing memory for stories. My teacher would read a short story to the class, then we would have to read it back to her in order to learn how to read. In the single reading I had memorised the short story and was able to pick up where it was left off if I was asked ot read next, so for everyone else it sounded like I was reading what was on the paper, rather than just repeating what had been told to me.

My parents put a lot of effort into getting me the help I needed, for a year, I had nightclasses, a tutor 3 times a week as well as regular school and special education classes at the school. If they hadn't I don't know where I would be right now. One of my relations is also dyslexic and they left school as soon as they were legally able, they despised school and reading/writing and if I hadn't gotten the help I had, I may have been the same. I wouldn't be a writer, I might have been a story teller, but not a writer.

I was always very imaginative and would tell stories so I wouldn't have to work, I would tell my tutor about how the dog stole my mothers gold necklace and we had to chase it down the road, despite the fact we didn't have a dog at that time, nor do I know remeber if my mum even wore jewellery. The reason I know of this story is because on the way out, my tutor specifically asked my mum if it happened, despite being 90% sure we didn't have a dog.

So in my case, yes, writing was taught to me, at least the mechanical features of it, if I hadn't been taught how to read & write and gone through intense schoolilng, I don't know if I would be able to write creatively. I think writing can be taught, but people just don't bother to continue. Whether that is lack of imagination of just plain disinterest with it. I think what sets writers apart is that they don't talk about writing a story or novel they actually sit down and write.

Some people of course might do it and hate it, but continue because they think they can make a quick buck and once they realise they can't they stop. I know people who have been praised for their short story skills, but they don't write creatively because they can't really be bothered, it doesn't interest them at all and they only wrote the short stories because they were required to for school.

I believe in talent but I also believe in education. Compare Sylvia Plath, whose love of writing was pursued through extensive education, with many of those who regard their work as art, regardless of the fact that they've put no effort into studying their craft. Even Ginsberg, Kerouac and Bukowski took time for education in their chosen field.

Originally Posted by Baron

I believe in talent but I also believe in education. Compare Sylvia Plath, whose love of writing was pursued through extensive education, with many of those who regard their work as art, regardless of the fact that they've put no effort into studying their craft. Even Ginsberg, Kerouac and Bukowski took time for education in their chosen field.

I have a great respect for education, and sometimes envy those who were able to enjoy one, but studying our craft doesn't depend on a university/college. Nothing teaches quite like life. Experience. Travel. Relationships. Survival. We can learn the language required to write by practice. But no university on earth can teach you to think a certain way. To look at the world a certain way. And if it can, well, that would be a lot of people thinking the same way.

I think writing has to be learned - either through school or self-taught. But yes, the 'imagination' part - that's something else. I would add that knowing how to tell a story isn't necessarily something that can be learned, either. Yes, one can learn the parts of a story and where they should appear - but that particular turn of phrase, or the ability to bring a character to life - people have varying levels of talent for that, and it takes a lot of work to get to an 'acceptable' stage. Above and beyond that, however, is something within the writer themselves. It's what makes the difference between a good (or even a very good) writer and a great writer. JMO

Originally Posted by felix

Can writing really be taught at all, or is it something that only you can teach yourself?

The idea that you can teach craft and not imagination comes close to summing things up – although I think there is an artistry to the application of craft that can’t really be taught either.

Other than for the sake of conversation, there’s not a whole lot that can be gained by looking at what other people have done. I may have taken a creative writing class, but maybe it was a bust. You’ll have to look into it and decide for yourself whether or not something like that will be of benefit -- and then it all depends on the class or the workshop or whatever it is you decide to do. Or you may decide to learn it all on your own. Whatever. Anyone with any amount of writing talent and the desire to write will figure this all out on his own. You’ll probably end up doing what everyone else does -- you’ll work it out through trial and error -- and it may or may not lead to any kind of success.

So, I’ll answer your questions two ways: It depends. And who knows?

Working with words could be likened to working with stone. A stone-mason with the right tools, the right education, and the right vision can create a sturdy, functional, comfortable house. He has learned his craft and knows how to apply it to achieve his goal. A writer can learn the tools and techniques of her craft just as well, and can produce fully functional, sell-able stories, articles, screen plays, scripts, etc.

On the other hand a sculptor can use those same tools and many of the same techniques to produce timeless art, just as another writer can use the same language and the same techniques to produce Great Expectations, Atlas Shrugged, or Hamlet.

Craft can be learned, but the success to which that craft will ascend is determined by many factors; talent, education, imagination, drive, etc.

Originally Posted by Loulou

But no university on earth can teach you to think a certain way. To look at the world a certain way.

I agreed with a lot of your arguments in the thread, but teaching you to look at the world and think a certain way is exactly what all universities endeavour to do.

Perhaps its's unfair to take it out of context and I apologise if I misunderstood, but I think that education can absolutely change your view of the world. However, as so many have already said, it cannot imbue you with an imaginative drive.

Originally Posted by felix

I agreed with a lot of your arguments in the thread, but teaching you to look at the world and think a certain way is exactly what all universities endeavour to do.

Perhaps its's unfair to take it out of context and I apologise if I misunderstood, but I think that education can absolutely change your view of the world. However, as so many have already said, it cannot imbue you with an imaginative drive.

Hi Felix,

I didn't explain very well, no apology needed at all. I meant that no university, school or college can teach you to think if you can't already. Does that make sense? And I am in no way discrediting education. It would have been great to further my education. I'm only saying it isn't necessary for writing well and successfully.

Originally Posted by felix

I agreed with a lot of your arguments in the thread, but teaching you to look at the world and think a certain way is exactly what all universities endeavour to do.

Perhaps its's unfair to take it out of context and I apologise if I misunderstood, but I think that education can absolutely change your view of the world. However, as so many have already said, it cannot imbue you with an imaginative drive.

Education can help to focus imagination in new ways, that's certain. When it comes to literature, I'd far rather read something by somebody who has learned how to properly structure their writing than read something by someone who has lots of imagination but little idea of how to put that across in a way that flows well.