Expecting someone to hand you a writing prompt Yes, you’ll still be mimicking the works other writers, but at least you’ll be mimicking something people want to read. Watch what they do, and play with using some of their techniques in your own writing. If you want to make a connection, you’re much better off studying hot writers like Stephen King, J.K. By mimicking their style, you might make a few teachers happy, but you’re essentially handicapping your writing in the eyes of the public. Not because they aren’t good (they were freaking great), but because people can’t connect with them. Sure, Chaucer and Thomas More and Shakespeare were the stud muffins of their day, but you don’t see them on the New York Times Bestseller List now. What’s worse is that many teachers hold up the classics as examples of what good writing is, and they expect you to mimic those writers with your essays. I don’t know who exactly decides what’s worth reading and what’s not, but they (whoever “they” are) believe in reading the “classics,” and most of those classics are centuries old. It’s a sad state of affairs when the youngest writer on your reading list has been dead 100 years, but that’s the way it is in school. Much of what comes out of high schools and universities fails this test, not because our students are incapable of saying anything interesting, but because a well-meaning but flawed academic system has taught them a lot of bad habits. It does have to be interesting enough that other people want to read it. Personally, I think good writing doesn’t have to be educated or well-supported or even grammatically correct. My guess: everyday people - your family and friends, your blog audience, your boss at work, maybe even a Letter to the Editor every now and again. But my question is: who are you going to spend more time writing for? It’s natural to write differently for academics than you would for everyday people. Some of it has to do with the audience, sure. Create interesting content people want to readĬompare an award-winning essay to a best-selling novel, and you’ll notice that they are written in almost completely different languages. Everyone else would rather chew off their own eyelids than read more than three pages of this boring crap.”Īnd they’re right. You’re the only person in the world who would willingly read it. It has no feeling, no distinctiveness, no oomph. I think most good writers listen to the way English teachers want them to write and think, “This isn’t real. Mission accomplished, as far as our schools are concerned. It’s proper, polite, and just polished enough not to embarrass anyone. Just look at the writing of most graduates, and you’ll see what I mean. Not all English teachers abide by this system, but the vast majority do. Maybe, if they’re really honest, they’ll admit it has a scholarly tone - prose that sounds like Jane Austen earns an A, while a paper that could’ve been written by Willie Nelson scores a B (or worse). They’ll tell you it makes a point and supports it with evidence. Ask an English teacher, and they’ll tell you good writing is grammatically correct.
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