I might have learned my most important writing lesson from an art director named Tim Cooper. When I was working at the magazine, he would argue with the entire editorial team as we tried to brainstorm cover art. He would say something to the effect of: “That’s too many things. We have to illustrate one thing and do it really well.” Those meetings were almost 20 years ago, but just thinking about how frustrated he would get at us still makes me smile. He also taught me to be friendly to the art director. Always.
But even as a child, when my dad took a red pen to my second grade teacher’s note on my report card because she misspelled a word, I gathered some deep down knowledge that learning about writing should be continuous. That said, here are some snippets of the up-and-down progression of my writing education... Before High School — Include Images Petunia the goose (in her bright orange book) and I would sit at the kitchen table as mom chopped up dinner ingredients and dad worked on crossword puzzles. The images of Petunia blowing up the farmyard with dynamite candles lit up my imagination and taught me to actually read the books I carry around or else I might blow something up too! Kablooey! How words sound matters. Even as mom would cart me around in the buggy at the grocery store, she would hand me a box of cereal and tell me to read out loud to her, which distracted me from wanting all of the toys. High School — Just Get It Done I learned how to write A+ papers very quickly because there was too much other fun stuff to do in high school. We also had typing class, and I used my first computer ever, which made it easier to write something once and edit without completely retyping the entire thing on a typewriter. My paper on the Lady of the Lake had to have been complete garbage, but my teacher always encouraged my creative approaches to topics even if I refused to stand in front of the class and present my ideas.
Journalism Classes in College — Hit The Basics Inverted pyramid used to be the rule. I also learned, “If it bleeds, it leads,” and something about that mantra really didn’t sit well with me, so I found an adjunct who was a magazine editor, and she taught me how to pay attention to the details of editing and that there is journalism outside of a newspaper. She taught me to think about how to pull multiple elements together to create a story package. She also taught me to ask for a job if I want it.
Creative Writing Classes in College — Experiment Calvino. Quiroga. A decapitated chicken. Late nights and workshops. Workshop etiquette. How to handle the criticism when people are thoughtful enough to read my writing. Bad poetry. More bad poetry. Introductions to what stands beyond the rules of grammar. My teacher, Tim Mizelle, once circled every time I used the word “the” in a 5,000 word story. He assigned us a 1,000-word sentence. He handed me Virginia Woolf. He pointed out the intention that Edgar Allan Poe used with every single vocab word. I audited every class of his that wouldn’t fit in my schedule. Magazine Writing — Cut, Cut, Cut, and Add Graphics How to take 1,000 words and fit them into space for 500. How to get real people to spill their hearts in just a few hours so you can tell their story in a thoughtful way. And how to turn data into infographics and illustrate concepts with images. How advertising money can dry up if you write the wrong angle. How not to edit, because I had stories butchered that kept my name but didn’t sound like me. Post-College Creative Writing — Read Books About Writing My true love at the time was a better short story writer than I was, and he had so many books about writing. We spent more time reading about writing than actually writing, but it was romantic and hopeful, and I dreamed of moving to New York to be a book editor. He ended up not making the trip with me. Book Editing for Publishing House — Organize First and Don’t Argue When I would have six months to build an 800-page book, quick outlines and freelance contracts were my saving grace. Proposals and pitches and an understanding of the business of writing. “Fantastic idea, but it won’t sell.” How to work on a book for a year and a half and have the title and cover art change or even the deadline change without any ability to argue about it. And freelancers sometimes would let me down, but contracts are contracts.
Book Editing for Myself and Friends — Understand Differences in Goals and Ability Having complete control over a book also means having complete responsibility for every aspect. Some people have what it takes to handle the critique and keep writing, and some people don’t. I can’t turn chick lit into literary lit, but I can make sure the commas are all correct and eliminate as many italic thoughts as I can.
From Students Trying to Get into College — Help Someone Else Get Started Students have wonderful stories. Students are also really great at pretending they know what they’re doing, until you ask them which word in the sentence is actually the verb. They all want to write better, and they mostly know their writing is bad, but they have few people to turn to who will sit down with them and transform their sentences word by word.
From Masters-Level Classes — Soak up the Knowledge No matter how much I know, there is so much more to learn, and the best way to learn is to listen to people who have experiences that are different from mine. Thank goodness for the digital ability to continue my ever-evolving education.
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