Origins of the Disease
PPS is not something you catch in Toronto or Hong Kong. This disease is
inflicted upon you by "toxic teachers"—usually English teachers from
middle schools through the college level. They don't mean to be toxic. They're
simply trying to do a job for which they have been ill-prepared. Here’s why.
The wrong people have been teaching writing for over 100 years. Rhetoric and
composition used to be the center of every college and university curriculum,
taught by specialists in oral and written communication. But responsibility for
these skills shifted in the early 1900s, beginning at Harvard University, to
newly formed "Departments of English." These new departments were
engaged in a new academic discipline emerging at the time: the formal study of
literature, which took the place of most courses in rhetoric and composition.
The result is that writing instruction became the "English Department's
Burden." Teaching composition skills became an obnoxious distraction from
the more meaningful pursuit of literary research. Even today, at most colleges
and universities, beginning writers are taught by the lowest-ranking department
members: graduate assistants, part-time adjuncts, and the newly hired.
The goal of most English Department professors remains ascending to the level
where they are no longer required to dirty their hands with the teaching of
young writers. I say that based upon serving as a tenured English professor for
10 years at America’s sixth oldest college, Moravian College in Bethlehem, Pa.
Bad Attitudes Aren't the Only Problem
Research academics in English Departments have no more business teaching an
applied art like writing than does a history or religion professor. And here is
the fact that fuels the spread of PPS: Of all the compositional
arts—painting, photography, music—only writing isn't regularly taught by
practitioners of it.
Myths and Misinformation
The result of writing not being taught by writers is a collection of myths
and misinformation about writing that has crippled all but a lucky few of us.
For the rest, writing is usually something dreaded, poorly done and avoided at
all costs. What are these myths?
Myth #1: Only literature is creative writing.
Like drawing or painting, writing is a creative act that can be performed on a
variety of levels and for a variety of purposes, sharing the same
characteristics of other creative arts.
Myth #2: Teaching grammar improves writing.
Unfortunately, it’s just the opposite. Research has shown for years that
traditional instruction in prescriptive (do this) and proscriptive (don’t do
that) grammar can have a negative effect on the ability to write:
(1) Larger elements of writing are ignored and their importance reduced
(2) "Error avoidance" divorces writing from creative thought
and language
(3) Exclusive attention to "flaws" lowers self-esteem and leads
to avoidance of writing
(4) Focus on error reduction causes "headwriting"
Myth #3: To become a good writer, read the greats.
Studying models can be valuable. But prose styles change significantly even over
a decade. Most students study literature texts that contain outdated prose
models which confuse rather than help them. In addition, literary texts don’t
necessarily prepare students for the kinds of non-fiction writing they will need
to do in life. Studying literature is important, but its use as a tool to teach
writing has had serious drawbacks.
The Cure
If language is a triumph of human evolution, then writing is a triumph of
human imagination. There is no more powerful tool for discovering ourselves and
for making some sense out of this world. Yet an accident of history keeps most
from knowing the rewards of writing, personal or professional. In order to know
those rewards, writers must be prepared to take the cure. And that means:
• Overhauling the writing process. One of the first effects of PPS is a
breakdown of the writing process and commingling of steps that should be
separate, especially the drafting and editing stages. The most common result is
the loss of writing as a tool for discovery of thought, emotions, physical
details, characters’ voices and the rest. Unless the editing and evaluation
steps are keep out of the creative phase, a writer’s ability to fully explore
the internal realm will be stunted.
• Increasing frequency and rate. Although writing, like sign language
and Esperanto, is an artificial language, writing is quite similar to natural
language (speech) in a profound way that is poorly understood: We are more
comfortable talking than writing primarily because we’ve done a lot more of
one than the other. A simple linguistic calculus is at work—If we wrote as
much as we talked, we would feel the same level of ease in doing both. I require
all of my students to keep a daily freewriting journal for this fundamental
principle that underlies everyone’s growth and development as a writer: Do it
often enough and fast enough and it becomes second nature, just as talking is.
• Facing the zero draft. The stage when nothing is on the page is often
the most difficult for writers to overcome. For this hurdle, I have devised a
regimen called "block writing," designed to get words on a page with a
minimum of heartache and nail biting. Divide writing periods into 45-minute
blocks, each with a small, specific goal. Set your timer, sit down, and don’t
get up until you’re supposed to. Given enough blocks, any writing project can
be accomplished.
• Using self-hypnotic tricks. I also have students practice
"blind writing" (computer screen darkened), "speed pads" (a
separate window for speedwriting) and other tricks until they are no longer
"head writers." Whatever tricks you come up with, the goal is to
reduce your willingness and ability to edit as you write.
The Joy of Breathing
Breaking free of the legacy of toxic teachers is joyful. Most of all, writers
who are free of PPS are finally able to follow William’s Wordsworth’s famous
advice:
"Fill your paper with the breathings of your heart."
—William Wordsworth
Copyright © 2003 David Taylor.
Reprinted with permission.
During
his 15 years as a college professor, David Taylor tried to avoid being toxic as
he trained 100s of young writers to write fiction and non-fiction for
publication. A former executive editor for Rodale Press (publishers of Men's
Health, Prevention, etc.), David now writes full time. His latest books include
a collection of dark fantasy, "Hell
Is for Children," and Amazon's #1 selling book for freelance writers, "The
Freelance Success Book: Insider Secrets for Selling Every Word You Write."
