The Writing Learning Curve

By Joan Fitting Scott

I’ve been writing in my head since I turned seven. As a pre-teen I starred as the nubile, leggy young heroine in a movie that ran continuously through my mind-with popcorn and previews! Oddly, my character’s last name was Scott.

Though I started and stopped writing several novels over my post-teen years, it wasn’t until 1996 that I began to sell some pieces to trade magazines and newspapers. I wrote about medicine, restaurants, real estate and local affairs-but not very well, I now know. Two years ago, I joined a local critique group and discovered that although I had sold, I still had room for improvement. Then I learned what I needed to learn.

People tell new writers they need to write, write, write and read, read, read to get better at their craft-as if that were all it takes. There’s more to developing marketable writing than that, however. What else does a novice need to do to master the trade?

Reading is good writer training; reading the right material is even better. When I began to be an earnest student of writing several years ago and not a mere dilettante, my more learned cohorts gave me a list of books to plow through.

At the top of the list was The Elements of Style, by William Strunk, Jr. and E. B. White. Although the book measured a mere 71 pages, I spent more time looking at it and skirting it than forcing myself to open it. I wasted a full year dithering. After all, it looked so… turgid. When I finally read “the little book,” as Strunk called it, I found it anything but turgid, and a real page turner. A compilation of simple rules of usage and principles of composition, the book is invaluable. If followed, its tenets produce writing that is clear, concise and bold. The book’s best tip is three words long. “Omit needless words,” Strunk told his students. “A sentence should contain no unnecessary words, a paragraph no unnecessary sentences, for the same reason that a drawing should have no unnecessary lines and a machine no unnecessary parts.”

Another page turner is William Zinsser’s On Writing Well. I particularly benefited from Zinsser’s admonitions about verbal clutter. Like Strunk and White, Zinsser favors bold writing. He hates the doublespeak pervading business and government writing. Say what’s on your mind, he urges in this warm and humorous book. If you “bob and weave,” as Zinsser puts it, your readers will have long since fallen asleep. “Writing is an act of ego, and you might as well admit it,” he writes.

A third book, Make Your Words Work by the late Gary Provost offers lessons for tight writing and a series of exercises to reinforce them. Provost even threw in some “coffee breaks” to break up his text. (No, I’m not going to tell you what that means. You’ve got to read the book and find out for yourself.) Provost’s book reminded me to use a strong verb rather than a weak one with a helping adverb and to vary my sentence lengths. It prompted me to examine my work for adjectives that tell, turning them into verbs that show.

To write better, read Zinsser, Provost and Strunk and White-more than once. These books are great reads. How could they not be when written by the best? Then visit the library or talk to colleagues to learn about other useful titles. I envision my writing reading project as a lifelong daily commitment, just like my exercise program.

As the song says, “Brush up Your Shakespeare.” Substitute “grammar” for “Shakespeare” and you’ve got the drift. I’ve seen colleagues with a real voice and zero skills-a big mistake, easily corrected. When you submit something for publication, your first reader will be the publication’s editor. If you can’t get past the editor, you’ll end up floating face down in the slush pile. A glaring grammatical gaffe won’t help you swim by.

While I’m still learning myself, I like to think my grammar is better than it was several years ago. That would be because I’ve recently completed an online grammar course. Offered by WritersOnline Workshops.com, presented by Writer’s Digest, it kept me busy in my free hours all of one summer. I’ve read every one of the six lectures offered many times since the course ended, and refer almost daily to a summary cheat sheet offered by my instructor. WritersOnline Workshops also offers Form and Composition and Creativity and Expression in its Basics series. I came across another grammar course the other day; find it at www.absoluteclasses.com/Gregory/gregory.htm.

Each type of writing has its own structure. Travel writing differs from fiction, a personal essay is not like poetry. Study the differences before tackling the genres. I took an excellent online travel writing class from Gotham Writers’ Workshop-Gotham offers courses in playwriting, memoir and general nonfiction writing as well-and I frequently refer to the lectures I downloaded. Zinsser also does a good job describing sports, memoir, science and technology, travel and business writing in On Writing Well. WritersOnline Workshops offers courses in poetry, fiction and children’s writing, among others. If you can’t find help learning how the genres vary, it’s because you haven’t surfed the web. Help is out there.

Learn the business. While we spend lots of time reading and critiquing in my critique group, now that I’m on the board of directors I plan to suggest we devote a few minutes each meeting to fielding members’ questions about rights, formatting, etc. Reading and writing in a vacuum does little to help newcomers get published if not supplemented with an education about the “biz.”

I’m one of those people who have to know what goes on at the other end of the email chain. Accurately anticipating what your submission recipient is looking for lands you the assignment. That can only be accomplished through learning the environment in which she works. Guides like The Everything Get Published Book by Peter Rubie address such nuts and bolts as query letters, contracts, marketing and editorial meetings. You’ll learn what “print run” means, what “sell through” signifies. Make a Real Living as a Freelance Writer: How to Win Top Writing Assignments by Jenna Glatzer has an appendix on useful jargon. Books like these help you talk the talk and walk the walk. Read them.

Another way to learn how publishing works is to attend writers’ conferences. I’ve been to two: the Oklahoma Writers’ Federation Writers’ Choice Conference in Oklahoma City and a shorter one, Writing to the World, put on by the Trinity Writers workshop of Bedford, Texas. Each offered a roster of experts addressing everything from using a spread sheet to track submissions to how to prepare a book proposal. Both conferences gave me the opportunity to hobnob with the pros and ask questions. I took notes and listened attentively. I learned a lot. I haven’t yet ascended to the Maui Writers Conference, but I’m working on it! Novel and Short Story Writer’s Market lists conferences by region, giving dates, costs and contacts.

It also helps to subscribe to online newsletters like writersweekly.com. Angela Hoy’s publication helps unwary writers identify, avoid and/or confront (nicely, of course) the occasional publishing shark, slow payer or no payer. She links writers looking for sources and quotes to those who can help them. Her publication maintains a high level of professionalism and even lists markets.

Finally, act as if you’re going to succeed. This is, of course, harder work than all of the foregoing. Telling yourself that it can happen, that you can be a regularly published writer is essential to the self-esteem and consequent motivation necessary for success. When the queries and submissions go out into cyberspace and an eerie silence follows, doing your ego push-ups will keep you cranking out the articles and stories. Then you should put on your thick skin and make yourself write some more. Seek support and advice from a good critique group. Keep ten queries out there at any given time and develop a submission tracking system. These are the things you have to do to keep the soul fires burning when the going is tough.

So read, read, read and write, write, write, but do so in an informed manner and to a specific end. Read about writing, practice good grammar, compare the genres and learn the business. Make a learning plan and execute it. And stay pumped, whatever it takes.

I forged an education program a couple of years ago. Still in the throes of execution, I’m becoming a bit better as a writer. When I look at my writing of a few years ago I wonder how some of it made it to publication. My writing of today has improved considerably.

Writing is like any other profession, requiring constant study and goals for excellence. If you do it right, it’s a lifelong process. And a fun one.

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Joan Fitting Scott is the author of Skinning the Cat: A Baby Boomer’s Guide to the New Retiree Lifestyles available at www.joanfittingscott.com.