The Study of Writing

Today, there is a whole industry built around creative writing. There are courses, books, methods, formulas, and rules for almost everything: how to start a story, how to create characters, how to build conflict, and how to end a short story. It is easy to get the impression that, to learn how to write, all you need is to find the right method. But that is not how many of the great writers of the past learned. They read a great deal, studied the language, observed people, and wrote. They copied good authors, tried to reproduce their effects, made mistakes, rewrote their work, and learned from the process itself. It was a slower, more hands-on kind of learning, closer to learning a craft. Perhaps that is exactly what has been lost, at least to some extent. Learning to write should not be only about discovering what you are supposed to do. It should also be about learning how to observe, how to read, how to think, and how to write better.