Smrt Lernins

Patchfire blogged about developing goals for writing* today, which inspired a very long comment from me (she did call me out directly on Facebook, so I figured she was asking for anything I could throw at her) on what I consider important traits of good writers. I came up with and decided I needed to share it here, in a slightly wordier capacity. Ignoring the little e-spat about academic vs. “creative” (as someone who does it off/on for a living, I prefer the term “professional,” thank you very much) writing that ensued in the comments of Patchfire’s blog, I think most of these are applicable cross-genre — academic, creative, technical, informal, etc. If you don’t like my list, try Mark Twain’s instead. If you disagree with Mark Twain, perhaps you should consider a job writing copy for clothing catalogs.

These are a few of the traits I think are part and parcel of good writing. A strong writer should:

1. Use and understand symbolism. Use and understand connotation (ie. subtext), which is a subtle form of symbolism.
2. Create and implement figurative language maturely and avoid trite or cliched figures of speech. Don’t be afraid to play with language.
3. Display an understanding of pacing. Avoiding a sense of “and then…” is one mark of a strong writer. Good pacing makes a simple story seem profound. Bad pacing makes a profound story into a movie of the week.
4. Write with a strong narrative voice, even in non-fiction. Narrative voice is one reason why some biographies are so easy to read and others are a chore. If you don’t have a sense of your own voice, how is your reader meant to?
5. Eschew obfuscation. Writing so nobody can understand what the hell you’re talking about doesn’t make you look smart; it makes you look pretentious. If you have a point, make it. If you have a thesis, show it. Circumlocution and superfluousness have their place, but humping your point/thesis is not it.
6. Avoid retelling  the same story unless you can write it better than the original. You can swap out whatever other items you like for hair combs and pocket watch chains, but we all know you’re just rewriting “The Gift of the Magi.” And yes, we’ve also all read that essay on feminist themes in “The Yellow Wall-Paper,” so you’d better find something awfully revelatory to add to that particular line of thought before you invest several hours of your time in it.
7. Ensure that any item or creature that interacts w/ your main characters should be a tool that furthers the plot line, a symbol (see #1) that sheds light in the inner mechanisms of the character, or both. If you aren’t giving us Chekov’s gun or a satisfying red herring, don’t give it to us. Don’t give the readers details they don’t need simply for the sake of including more details.
8. Craft quality sentences, because if you can’t write a good sentence, you can’t write a good paragraph or essay. The devil is in the details.
9. View learning to write as a ongoing process, not a terminal goal post. You never really “learn to write.” It’s not a finite skill set. You can always improve your voice, your style, your finesse.
10. Have the ability to accept and implement edits from an editor (or professor or word-wise friend). All manner of grammatical errors can be overlooked in the arena of professional writing if you have the ability to work well with an editor.

Since I don’t view academic writing as the termination of writing instruction, my goals for teaching writing to my children are much more in line with developing the above traits than in developing fluency in specific formats. MLA, Chicago, and AP style all have their places, but they aren’t the sum of writing. If a writer has good prose, s/he can always apply a format to it. It’s easier to teach a good writer to work within a set of formatting rules than it is to teach someone who knows the formatting rules to write well.

What traits do you think are requisite in a good writer? How do those traits related to your goals in teaching writing?

*Stay on my good side and share your writing goals w/ Patchfire, too, as she started this whole conversation.

ETA: Also consider reading Kurt Vonnegut’s “How to Write with Style”.

My professional background is in writing. I have a master’s degree in professional writing and editing and have been a freelance writer for the last six years. I’m currently teaching a creative writing class at a local homeschool co-op. Despite all of this, however, I still use someone else’s writing curriculum for Captain Science (we use Writing Strands). Why? Because sitting down and mapping out the ideal curriculum for me just seems way too intimidating.

Someone on the WTM forums asked what I’d look for in a writing program, so I sat down and made a list of the things I’d like to include:

1. A Grammar Component: Correct grammar and usage is so important and you can’t be an effective writer without it (e.e. cummings not withstanding). I really like the idea of a grammar program like Editor in Chief, which puts grammar in context through identifying mistakes and correcting them by rewriting the paragraph. Sentence diagramming may seem tedious to some children, but dissecting language helps you learn how to use it better, so definitely include sentence diagramming in your grammar curriculum. My ideal writing program would include the grammar component, rather than treating it like it’s a separate subject.
2. Writing Styles (Formal and Informal): Writing in a variety of contexts helps you grow as a writer. As part of our personal curricula, we do history writing (twice weekly), writing for language arts (once or twice weekly), and creative writing (more sporadically at this point). We plan to add in science writing, as well. My ideal writing curriculum would include a variety of writing types and would teach an overview of writing styles, as well as basics of writing summaries and creative writing.
3. Write Regularly: The best practice is to do a little writing every day. Adult writers should try to meet the “1000 words a day” goal, while youth writers should shoot for around 100 words. My ideal writing curriculum would encourage short, daily writing, as well as once-weekly longer assignments.
4. Creative Writing (and Pre-Writing): Don’t push creative writing too early, but don’t eschew it entirely. Some people discourage expecting creative writing for children under 8-10, but I think making the connection between story telling and writing a story is important. Even very early writers can dictate a story, read back what was written, and expand on that story. Older children should be encouraged to write from prompts, to rewrite stories and include their own original details, and to do things like character development.
5. The Long and Short of It: Some writing programs put the emphasis on florid language, some put in on saying things succinctly. My ideal writing program would include both — sections where the student is to write a long description (perhaps even rewrite a short, succinct sentence) of something and sections where the goal is to summarize an event or long sentence into one simply, precise sentence.
6. No Five-Paragraph Essays: The only purpose of the five-paragraph essay is to develop the idea of thesis sentences, supportive details, and concluding paragraphs. You can accomplish this same goal with a tree/flowchart (thesis sentence as the top, main details coming off, minor supporting details coming off of those, and all of it coming back together at the bottom with the conclusion.
7. Outlines and Key Word Outlines: One thing we did like from IEW was the idea of the key word outline. It’s a good introduction to the concept of detailed note taking. My son reads his section once, get an idea of what his paper will be about, goes back through and does a key word outline, then sets aside the book and does his paper. He’ll be moving on to more formal outlines in the future.
8. Let Writing Be Its Own Reward: The great thing about writing is that it produces something tangible that can be shared for the brag factor. Compile your student’s best works from the year and have them bound (or use a self-publishing company like Lulu). Let your child give the writing as gifts or just keep a copy of his “book” for posterity.

I can’t see myself sitting down and developing a formal program that does all of this, though the bits and pieces are all things we do. Maybe someday, when I’m not actually currently homeschooling, I’ll give it a whirl.

What would YOU like to see in a writing program?