Life Behind the Writing
A critical but usually unspoken component to writing well is the quality of the human being who writes. Is he or she smart? Thoughtful? Curious? Provocative? Original? Has he or she done emotional research to undergird the story? “Living a conscious and reflective life is a prerequisite for writing a memoir of substance,” writes Judith Barrington. Likewise with poetry and fiction. The written word may be wiser than the human who wrote it, but never by much. Writing classes don’t address these questions, for good reason; little can be done in a school setting to address a student’s basic nature. Perhaps when writing teachers despair of ever being effective, this is why. Unfortunately, many writing teachers shy away from teaching revision as a result. Creating writing prompts is easier than helping writers to jettison egos, generate new narrative structures, and discover the emotional undercurrents that will become unifying themes. But…