Writing is making

Posted by Rob Walker on June 12, 2009
Posted Under: Uncategorized

I don’t think the workshops taught me too much about craft, but they did teach me about the importance of making things, not just reading things. You care about things that you make, and that makes it easier to care about things that other people make.

So writes Louis Menand, one of my very favorites, in a recent New Yorker piece about creative-writing workshops.

One thing I like about this line is that it assumes that writing is making something.

I also like the idea that writing makes one appreciate others’ writing in a new way. I’m less certain this latter idea is always true — but I do like it.

Further diversion may be found at MKTG Tumblr, and the Consumed Facebook page.

Reader Comments

Exactly. And this is why the concept of craftmanship is so important when it comes to writing — or creating anything. It’s an idea that has been swept aside by the cult of the author, but it’s been coming back in recent years. The problem with creative writing programs is that instead of being built on ideas of craftsmanship, rhetoric and discourse, the focus is on self-expression and “peer” feedback. The result paradoxically, is not enough emphasis on learning from the tricks of the masters (which is what learning to be a craftsperson is about) and too much emphasis on apprentices trying to rewrite each others works in their own image.

Writing leads one to appreciate others’ writing in a new way when principles of structure, syntax, detail, tone, rhetorical modes, etc. are part of the mix rather than just “voice.”

#1 
Written By Wm Morris on June 13th, 2009 @ 11:47 am
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