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About the author and blogger ...

Anne Goodwin’s drive to understand what makes people tick led to a career in clinical psychology. That same curiosity now powers her fiction.
A prize-winning short-story writer, she has published three novels and a short story collection with small independent press, Inspired Quill. Her debut novel, Sugar and Snails, was shortlisted for the 2016 Polari First Book Prize.
Away from her desk, Anne guides book-loving walkers through the Derbyshire landscape that inspired Charlotte Brontë’s Jane Eyre.
Subscribers to her newsletter can download a free e-book of award-winning short stories.

TELL ME MORE

Learning to write

23/2/2018

17 Comments

 
Picture

School was a shock. Where did all those children come from? Would I wet myself or brave those dark outdoor loos? As a timid child, and an obedient one, the structure of the classroom seemed easier to manage. And yet.

The teacher stood at the blackboard etching row upon row of noughts and crosses in coloured chalk. We sat at desks, copying the figures into our books with fat wax crayons. This was school? At home, colour meant drawing however the inspiration took me. Already programmed in compliance, I crushed my creativity along with my rage.

Later, we must have progressed to proper letters, the precursor of words, sentences and eventually stories. But why was it wrong to shape my ‘g’ and ‘a’ as they appeared in a printed book? More injustice. And school was a life sentence or, at least until age sixteen, which was virtually the same.
 
When we moved on, years later, to ‘real writing’, I found genuine pleasure in joining up the letters, word by word. The pride in progress from crayons to pencils to fountain pens, with interchangeable nibs. Green ink might not pass for schoolwork, but oh the joy of that squat glass bottle in my drawer at home. Thankfully education had become more liberal by then and, although we had to practice italics, we were never subjected to the mind-numbing drill of the
copybook.
 
Irene Waters
Times Past memoir prompt  has got me thinking not only about learning to physically form my letters but, of course, learning to write publishable fiction. I wonder if, like the child reluctantly copying those sequences of noughts and crosses, a difficulty accepting I had to learn to do something I’d done for years might have impeded my development. Although I did courses here and there, I had no idea at the outset how much I had to learn. Perhaps if I had, I wouldn’t have tried!


Now, with two novels published and a short story collection on the way, I can more easily accept that I haven’t finished learning how to write, and perhaps never will. But I am in a position to identify my three most significant learning points, or
milestones, on my journey so far:

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  • The difference between showing and telling (or, as Emma Darwin puts it, evoking and informing) and the relative merits of both.
  • Trimming, pruning and cutting some more, so that every word counts.
  • Weighing up feedback and criticism to strike a balance between rejecting advice because it feels uncomfortable versus losing track of one’s own judgement in a desperate attempt to please.
 
I’m sure there are other points I could mention but, for now, it’s over to you! What are your most important lessons in learning to write?

Picture

A request has gone out for 99-word stories
about unicorns. I was tempted to recycle a contribution from the early days of Carrot Ranch – here’s one from June 2014 and the follow-up a week later – but when I thought of pairing it with this post, I went to an altogether different place. I hope it captures the spirit of the supportive community Charli has built at the Ranch.


Learning to draw


I’m rubbish at this. My horse looks more cow than anything, or wildebeest. Why am I even here?

It gets easier with practice, Miss Mills said. I take a deep breath, relax my shoulders and select a pencil with a sharpened point. Burnt umber: I haven’t used that yet. He might seem more equine with a bridle.

Before I’ve made a stroke, the teacher looms over me. My hand slips, etching a brown protrusion from the animal’s forehead. I hold my breath.

How lovely, she says. A unicorn!

Lovely? Something shifts in me. Maybe art class will be fun.


Thanks for reading. I'd love to know what you think. If you've enjoyed this post, you might like to sign up via the sidebar for regular email updates and/or my quarterly Newsletter.
17 Comments
Geoff link
24/2/2018 08:37:57 am

I’d forgotten crayons for writ8ng. Bloody hell what were they th8nking. And like you I hated the repetition but complied because that’s what we did. Sadly my unicorn moments were few and far between. ‘Just what is that Geoffrey?’

Reply
Annecdotist
28/2/2018 10:44:40 am

I loved drawing as a child but was never good enough to progress further. When I did my coast-to-coast walk a friend gave me a diary which had some drawing paper in the middle. My sketches were rubbish (a few cows but no horses) but it was fun.

Reply
Norah Colvin link
24/2/2018 09:22:15 am

Oh, Anne, I did enjoy reading about how you learned to write - a lot more than you enjoyed the experience. It's funny that I don't really remember learning to write - only in the dreaded copybooks when the pen never went the way I told it. I muse with you about the effect of already being able to do something when being "taught" how to do it. "I know, I know" seems to be an impediment to learning more. I see it in my grandchildren now. When they think they know, they don't want to listen to anything I might say to extend their knowledge.
I love your flash and love the teacher. I wish I'd written it. As you did, I am contemplating sharing a previous unicorn flash. I think I did a few "back then", but I'd rather come up with something new, if I can. :)
Thanks for sharing what you learned about writing. It's all very interesting.

Reply
Annecdotist
28/2/2018 10:50:53 am

Thanks, Norah. I did think my flash might have suited your blog better than mine. Or would be equally relevant.
It’s difficult to learn if you can’t accept not knowing. I can manage this in some areas better than others. For example, in singing where I have no pretensions to be particularly good at it!

Reply
Anurag Bakhshi link
26/2/2018 04:19:19 am

How I wish all teachers were like this one :-)

Reply
Annecdotist
28/2/2018 10:41:09 am

Me too, of course my character is inspired by Norah!

Reply
Charli Mills
28/2/2018 10:44:00 pm

Norah holds the bar for a lot of us who wished she had been our teacher!

Annecdotist
4/3/2018 12:17:14 pm

Absolutely!

Norah Colvin link
11/3/2018 06:48:25 am

You're all too kind. And now that I reread your flash, Anne. I see mine has some similarities. If I was influenced, it was an act of the unconscious mind. Apologies.

Reply
Annecdotist
12/3/2018 03:29:14 pm

No apology needed. It's your territory!

Charli Mills
28/2/2018 11:01:10 pm

Learning to draw is not much easier than learning to write! I don't recall ever using crayons for writing lessons. I certainly remember the pencils. Your flash also captures the way I feel writing stories -- just as I think it's rubbish, someone notices it differently. Of course, there are the times I also think my attempt brilliant and someone notices it's not!

Reply
Annecdotist
4/3/2018 12:20:46 pm

Well, you are very good at finding the diamonds among the rust of other people’s writing, so I hope you get enough of that back. But you’re right, it can also work the other way, when we think we’ve pulled off something clever but it just falls flat.

Reply
Robbie Cheadle
3/3/2018 11:51:05 am

I always enjoyed art classes and I always enjoyed writing. It is only as an adult though that I am learning to cast off the shackles of opinion and conservatism and enjoy doing my own thing.

Reply
Annecdotist
4/3/2018 12:26:05 pm

Hurrah for that, Robbie! And with your talent for sculpting fondant figures, I’m reminded of another form of artwork that tends to drop off after childhood. I was never as much into modelmaking as drawing and writing, but my husband has done some clever things latterly with papier mache. Maybe I’ll prompt him to pick up that hobby again.

Reply
Irene Waters link
13/3/2018 06:01:40 am

I can't imagine learning to write with a crayon. In fact I don't remember crayons being used at school at all so that could just be my memory. Thank you for sharing your milestones in learning to write. They are all excellent points. thanks for the links for fuller discussion on them.
I loved the teachers response in the flash - Norah has definitely given us all a role model.
Sorry I didn't see this post earlier but will link now.

Reply
Annecdotist
14/3/2018 12:24:46 pm

Glad you found me at last!
Could be a false memory regarding the crayons but I think it was because they were easier than pencils for small hands to hold.
My flash response for this week involves time travel and I’m sure many of us would love to go back in time and swap our actual teachers for Norah.

Reply
Irene Waters link
15/3/2018 04:18:35 am

Yes finally. No you are probably right - and you are definitely right if we could time travel backwards we'd swap for Norah.




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