So i am sitting here thinking what to write, what to write? And the thing that comes to my mind is the book i am reading now. I finished the book the Scalpel The Sword yesterday and today began Nightlife by Rob Thurman.
Honesty this work reminds me of Jim Butcher, minus some of the skill. Which is not a bad thing, as Jim Butcher is (in my humble opinion) a very good author, so to minus only some skill is saying that while he is good, he is not as good.
Which brings me to a brief recommendation. Read the Dresden Files by Jim Butcher until you get bored of them, and see what someone who has learned how to write rather than picked it up. He talks about in his blog the technique which he uses to write, and explains where he learned it.
Which actually kind of brings me to a different topic. Well, different than the one i was planning. I was going to talk about, well write about, how reading something good makes it difficult to write, but now i want to write about how some people learn to write. And more specifically how i learned to write.
Learning to write was not something that school did for me. They had us write stories in grade school and essays as we got older. To say that school encouraged me to write would be a lie. That's not to say that my early teachers told me to never ever try to write anything because it would be a crime against the literary gods (i bow and prostrate before you). Rather i never got told that i should be writing, or that i should be encouraged at all.
And no this is not a whiny complaint against my teachers, they were good enough to teach me most of the basics.
But writing properly was never really taught, we were taught the format, aka:
- a story must have a beginning, a middle, and a end
- a story must have a conflict
- a story must have a main character
- stories are better if they have other characters
and that was about it. Were we taught about description? About the power of words to stir people, to raise up your emotions? No we weren't.
Do you remember me referring to the 10,000 hours necessary to become a master at anything? That means that you need to be encouraged to do something throughout your teens to be ready for university. That means that you need to begin writing back when you are 10 years old. Grade 6.
Your talent needs to be encouraged and people need you to start writing or playing the piano or whatever when you are 10.
But this is another flaw in the modern school system, there is all kinds of support should you be smart (aka good at science/math/english/any other class), and there is all kinds of support should you display a talent in some other art such as music or painting. But no teacher watches for someone to be good at writing.
And i think it is partially the fault of Shakespeare and other classic authors, and the rest of the blame goes to Stephanie Myer and J.K. Rowling.
The idea that authors such as Shakespeare and crew cannot be matched by our modern authors means that no matter how good the little kid sitting in the fourth row back writes he isn't a match, so why try? Teachers go through just as much school training as most of us, they learned about each of these authors, hell probably read more of them than the rest of us. It certainly places them in a position where they are the one most likely to start the encouragement. After all, aren't parents more likely to notice if the teacher points it out?
Now the second part of the blame goes to J.K. Rowling and Miss Myer as they are the tip top of the modern author. What does that mean? Well in complexity of work and character development they both are about as skilled as George Bush writing anything more complicated than his name(sorry for the personal attacks here, but i needed something that was both something i would say and would explain my point).
Neither of them develops their characters very well, both of them are light on artistic descriptions, and yet both with their simple plots have dominated the literary world, resulting in so many people spending hours at a time interpreting their words. I've been over this before, i am jealous, but it also places even more of a burden on kids. They are reading Harry Potter and its not all that more complicated than their own work and yet the teacher doesn't respond. Way to kill the dream.
Ya this post has been filled with my cynical bitterness and yet i still feel like there is something missing. Something that needs to be said...
Ah yes, how i learned to write, since i wasn't encouraged and didn't start writing for pleasure until grade 11 it does feel like i owe a bit of an explanation(particularly to those who for some reason think i am good). Its simply really, i did too things.
I read.
And i thought about what i read.
If you read a lot of things and think about what makes each and every one of them a decent/terrible read eventually you are gonna know how to write something. Either that, or your a sad pathetic waste of skin who needs to be shot for his own good(you know who you are). As for writing good, i still don't think i do, and i hope i never do because as long as i think my writing isn't good enough i am going to keep reading and keep trying to do better.
Who knows, maybe i can get my 10,000 hours by the time i am 25.
Here's to hoping!
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