Who Taught You To Write?

[Kantarii]

<——— this person did. Kantit’s my imagination and I write it like I dream it up

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Who taught me? Hmm...actually nobody and everybody. My English teachers in school started the process. I really like to make up stories for all those composition they assigned. You know the ones "What I did over the summer" things.

But I really don't think they taught me how to write. I have always been a creative person. I always did things my way though. And that's what I do with the stories I write. I do it my way. To some, it might not be the correct way, but it's what I think is correct. I write what I like to read. Sometimes with a twist.

Writing it the putting together of words. You put them together in the right order and they sometimes tell a story.

 

[HeyAll]

Learn from reading.

 

[rutger5]

Correct answer is Phillip Marlowe, I believe, but I was a terrible student.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Beverly Cleary, E.B. White, Maurice Sendak, Shel Silverstein, Madeleine L'Engle, R.L. Stine, J.K. Rowling, Stephen King, Toni Morrison, Phillip Pullman, Margaret Atwood, Kurt Vonnegut, Donna Tartt, Harper Lee, Clive Barker, Jeffrey Eugenides, T.C. Boyle, Michael Chabon...

 

[GrandTeton]

If you don't read, you won't be able to write. It's hard to pick out the most influential writers you've read, if you read a lot, because there always someone else just around the corner handing off a new way to say what you need to say. I think past that, the art of putting the words together, you teach yourself.

 

[SamScribble]

My father set an example. And I read Winston Churchill, Graham Greene, John Le Carre, Kurt Vonnegut, J P Donleavy, E L Doctorow, Philip Roth, Robert Drewe, et al. My first proper editor encouraged me to write in a spare style. A later editor encouraged me to go even further.

 

[KindofHere]

.............

 

[nosebone]

I'll not sully the names of good authors I've read over the years that have given me an idea or two. I had a English teacher my senior year that saw something in me though. She insisted I should write more. I never understood it as I thought she was an old drunk and out of touch. She was persistent though and continued to badger me. It took several years before my first story appeared on alt.sex.stories but I was instantly hooked on writing.

 

[HeyAll]

I learned how to write incest stories, and basically any erotic story, from mostly this story:

https://www.literotica.com/s/with-moms-help

I'd say that's one of my main sources of learning. This and a few others. Check it out, even if you don't like the genre. The structure and build-up are educational.

 

[SolarRay]

Appropriate to Mother's Day, I feel pretty confident that my love of writing stems from the fact that my mom used to make me tell her a new story every day as she drove me to/from school. At such a young age, that pretty much cemented the interest and motivation, at least.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Who didn't? I'm not sure I can remember all the writing classes and workshop I've been through. It started in fifth grade when I was the new kid in the class. The teacher thought making me the class reporter for the school paper would help me make friends. I got a lot of tutoring on the articles I wrote. After that I wrote above my peers all through high school and got directed into Creative Writing and Journalism classes, even though I wanted more math and science. I was Editor of the School paper Senior year.

In college, the English 101 teacher moved me to Junior English (forget the number) after my first essay. When I couldn't pass the math to be a Comp Sci major, I changed to Business. When I couldn't pass that math, I switched to English. So two more years of back to back writing classes.

Got my first job with a Medical Journal, processing manuscripts as they came in. The journal was published by an association, and when their copy-writer quit, they sent me to classes on business writing even though I didn't need them. The association also held an annual conference where they had sessions on writing for Medical Journals. They decided it would be cheaper if I lead them, so they sent me back to class to learn how to write science and medical articles so I could teach doctors.

So that all ended many, many years ago, but yeah, from ten to twenty-seven, I was almost constantly being taught how to write.

I just wish I had some actual talent.

 

[Blind_Justice]

If we want to be really technical, I learned to write in elementary school. You know, how to paint these squiggly lines which make up letters? When my teachers deemed my eyesight poor enough, I had to learn how to write Braille as well. It was like learning a second language shortly after getting the basics of "normal" script right.

When it comes to "actual" writing, wordcraft and the like, my editors were the ones who "taught" me the do's and don't's. Recently, I've seemingly graduated to the advanced league thanks to the lovely Etaski who's whipping my sorry Geek Day Pride story into shape. Honestly, without her, my writing would still be on the level of early 2012 or so

 

[JugheadJane]

I’m self taught, I guess. I’ve never struggled to write, even from a really young age. In school I was frequently recognised for my unique written musings. At age 15 I wrote a short story about cheese which, unbeknown to me, was then submitted by my English teacher for a spot in a writing showcase with a well known author. So I’ve always had it in me, I’m proud to admit. My dream is to see a book of mine on a shelf in a bookstore.

 

[opinionator]

I just felt my way through the process. But one lesson I learned was from Faulkner's The Sound and the Fury. I feel as if I'm good at writing dialogue, but suck at any sort of extended narrative or describing scenes in detail. I was trying to make myself conform to what I thought I had to do. But after reading The Sound and the Fury I realized I can do whatever I want to do as far as style or form is concerned. Really helped me more forward.

 

[Bonodono]

Writing

Honestly after reading a good number of stories in my life, I gained a decent understanding of structure and so on. I even took a creative writing class In college but it proved to be useless when the teacher went AWOL and they were forced to give us all passes lol. I remember listening to an interview of a member of the Red Hot Chilie Peppers once and he said (I’m paraphrasing) that songs and such come from the aeither - they are already made- and we tap into it and pull them out. Now for some I’m sure that sounds pretty much like BS, but I feel an attraction to the idea that perhaps out there - beyond and so forth that those stories really do exist. I know I’ve had times when I write that it seems like the story literally just writes itself.

 

[jomar]

No creative writing classes so self stumbling, I suppose. Enjoy experimenting with styles. I have taken dialogue cues from Robert B Parker and Elmore Leonard, who probably took theirs from Raymond Chandler.