This past weekend, I revisited Francine Prose’s craft book, Reading Like a Writer. She posed the question: Can Creative Writing Be Taught?

You can ask 10 different people and probably get different answers. I always answer with that dreaded phrase: “It depends.”

When I first starting writing, I really didn’t know anything about the craft and structure of writing. I just wanted to tell a story. So for me, going to writing classes and finding my writer mentor really helped me. I learned a lot things about writing fiction in a classroom setting.

But Francine Prose also makes a distinction of writers being taught in classes:

“Because if what people mean is: Can the love of language be taught? Can a gift for storytelling be taught? then the answer is no.”

I believe this as well. My thought is that you don’t take a one-day seminar or a six-week class and then go write a novel and get it published. It could happen but I think the people who can do this are already gifted storytellers.

Francine Prose also shares how she learned to write:

“In the ongoing process of becoming a writer, I read and re-read the authors I most loved. I read for pleasure, first, but also more analytically, conscious of style, of diction, of how sentences were formed and information was being conveyed, how the writer was structuring a plot, creating characters, employing detail and dialogue.”

To develop as a good writer, I believe that you first must become a good reader. It never ceases to amaze me how many people want to be writers but never read anything. You have to READ. And not only read, but read CLOSELY.

I have started to read closely in the last few years and it has opened up a whole new world for me. It was like I had been living in the Matrix, took the red pill, and then saw the meaning and structure of words in front of my eyes. It was an “a-ha” moment. Before, I read a book and loved it but now when I love a book, I figure out WHY I love it so much. I read it carefully — maybe several times. It has for me been the best teacher.

I think creative writing classes definitely can provide a foundation. Especially if you’re unclear about the mechanics of writing. Craft books can also be a great start for independent study. But if you’re serious about writing, you also have to be serious about reading.