Purposeful Prose Advice Column: On Teaching How to Write

Dear Purposeful Prose, 

I know how to write, but how do you teach someone how to write or how to write better? People ask me for advice on writing sometimes, and I get stuck on how to give it without using a lot of jargon or trying to rush people through it. Do you have any tips?

One of the most critical skills that an editor can consistently develop is quality of feedback. I know that the quality of my feedback has improved over time, and I’ve learned how to tailor my feedback to cater to different clients and students.

A harsh truth is that you will not name “the problem” every time. There will be moments where you will not have the words to fit a writer’s needs for a particular text or line. This happens to everyone. If you’re reading a line, and you’re not sure what you find to be “off” about it, open it up to conversation with the writer you’re working with. People often say that writing is a lonely process, but I think that it works well collaboratively. After you’ve had that conversation, make an account to yourself of what happened. You can use that information to inform feedback you give later on.  

Something else that I’ve noticed is that the way people are often taught to write in formal education systems doesn’t always serve how that person thinks. Let me break this down. When I was taught to write, I remember being taught how to form a sentence, how to create an outline with Roman numerals, letters, and numbers. 

From there, I started writing paragraphs and essays. My outlines helped, but they weren’t tuned in to the way I thought about writing. I like to knowledge dump as a part of my planning process, but I didn’t learn how helpful that was to me until later in life. I was stuck in the trenches of an outline. Again, outlines can be helpful or restrictive.  

In a class of 20-25 students, a teacher can’t be expected to give every student a personalized plan that helps them write according to a specific way of thinking. Teachers wear a million hats as it is. To solve this problem, methods of teaching writing became more formulaic. 

The way that we were taught to write can inform our present understanding of craft, and this is important to keep in mind. This breeds a mindset that equates the process of writing to hard and fast rules. Think of style guides. These are guidelines that can help a writer and editor make decisions about how to approach a text in terms of both grammar and style. Using these guidelines appropriately means that an intended audience will find a text more approachable, and publishing houses/agents will be more likely to consider the work. 

That said, we’re talking about guidelines. Not all guidelines will be universally applicable to everyone’s writing situation. Stories, poems, even nonfiction texts have broken grammar rules lauded as cornerstones to great effect [and to the annoyance of friends and colleagues]. Not all pieces of writing will be able to achieve the same effect. 

The best thing that a writing mentor of any kind can do is to lead with the intentions of the writer. Many practiced editors will do this instinctively. The question, “What did you mean to say?” will show up often in comments. Suggestions will be made according to an editor’s expertise and understanding of a writer’s intentions. You’re going to have your own way of processing a text and giving feedback, but again, this text isn’t yours. 

If someone is coming to you with something they’ve written, they probably believe that what you have to say will bring them closer to their goals as a writer. This is a sign that you are well-respected. At the same time, tread carefully. When it comes to using jargon or rushing writers through feedback, this is often a sign that you have clear rules or goals in mind when you’re looking at another person’s writing. Be prepared to engage, to define, to ask questions, to actively listen when a writer explains their intentions for their work. 

Give yourself as much information to work with as you can if you want to give the best feedback that you can.

I hope these tips are what you were looking for, and congratulations! People are coming to you with their writing, and I think that says a lot of positive things about you.

If you have a writing or editing-focused question, I would be more than happy to dedicate a post to you. Contact us with any questions you might have or to schedule a free consultation with yours truly!

All submissions will remain anonymous unless you explicitly request for me to include your name.