Boilerplate Learning to Write Is Killing Us

Why do you write? Have you ever thought about it? I mean really, really thought about it. Do you write because you want to be famous or make money or impress your friends or your family or do you do it because there’s nothing else to do? Why? Is there something about you that makes you want or need to write? Do you have secrets to share or knowledge or are you trying to get even with the world through your writing? All of it? None of it? Sounds like a multiple-choice exam, doesn’t it? But I suppose each of us has to answer some of that at one time in our lives, or do we?

Frankly, I’m tired of the old chestnut that people write because they have no choice. It’s as though it’s an addiction that must be satisfied and I don’t believe that. I think people write because there’s beauty in the words and a world of your choosing can be created and you are the god of the alphabet that stretches as far or as near as you want it. You have the power to force emotion or to open minds, whichever you choose.

Can someone teach us to write, to be a wonderful wordsmith (a word I haven’t seen very often)? Is there some innate ability that can be brought out? One well-known writer said that he can help make people writers or better writers than they were, but out of a class of 30–40 or 50, there will be one, only one that will have that sheer magical ability to rise above all others. Is it genetic or early childhood learning?

Many of the writers who have provided all those tips for the rest of us say that…