Writing Skills

Degree or No Degree!

In today’s society we are taught or made to assume that to write a novel one must have excellent English skills, a degree of some related sort related to English as well as having punctuation and grammar down to a tee. I disagree.

There are many books out there that are quick to give you guidelines to help writers block or to improve your writing skills. One such book ‘A Novel in a Year’ by Louise Doughty even gives you working assignments, exercises if you will.  I thought this idea is clever not only does it give you tips, encouragement, and inspiration but it motivates you to see your own skills in action.

The first exercise in the book is to finish the following sentence. The day after my eighth birthday my father. After thinking up ideas of a good story line you turn the page to see others ideas and compare. Louise must have been a teacher in this life or her past sharing all she knows about writing. I thank her for this as I myself am trying to finish my first novel by Christmas.  This is how I finished my first exercise.  The day after my eighth birthday my father told me he killed my mother. Intense I know but it makes you want to know the rest of the story, doesn’t it?

The second exercise is more for personal help than help on topics and ideas. Louise continues with her directions to finish the following sentence. I want to write a novel because… I bet all writers come to this question with different feelings. Mine was excitement.  I was born with a brain that never shuts up which I blame why I talk so much but the stories that have floated in my head since I was a little finally have an escape and for that I am relieved. My parents said I always stretched the truth growing up and they could see me plotting my next story as I stood before them. From stretching the truth with my parents to lying to my kindergarten teacher that I was deadly allergic to milk only to see her reaction to add to a story I had started writing at the age of seven.  My love for writing went quiet when I was put off course by a college professor who told me my punctuation and grammar was atrocious and if you didn’t have skills in that department I could forget writing. Who said a writer has to have perfect English? Isn’t it all about the story? I have hundreds of ideas for stories that I want to create and over time I hope that I will be successful in getting them all done on paper. It’s writers like me that keep the copy editors in business anyway. In a world like today anyone can write and get edited it’s the story line that counts the most. Do you have a strong story? Don’t be discouraged by your poor grammar skills get your idea down on paper.

The person that says they want to write for money, well, I assume has ever written anything before. It’s hard work and time consuming but it’s worth it in the end. Here is how I finish my sentence. I want to write a novel because as a novelist I can escape the present world where all my stories and stretching the truths can longer get me into trouble and someone else can enjoy them as much as I have over the years with them floating in my head.

I have yet to finish Louise Doughty’s book and her exercises but for those that don’t have time to read and write I will continue to post her exercise I experience with my own answers. Let’s see if together we can’t all encourage, inspire, and motivate each other to be successful. To all the English teachers I have ever had growing up I am here to prove you all wrong.