The perennial question – Can writing be taught? – is asked by aspiring writers, by people without MFAs, by people with MFAs and by a whole category of people that believes that anyone can write if they put their mind to it.
Clearly, most people think it can be, hence the numerous writing workshops, retreats, creative writing MFAs and writing manuals offered up by writers and teachers of writing, in many cases, the same people.
John Gardner was one such writer and teacher. He was a bestselling author who wrote ten novels, two books of stories, six works of poetry and translation and over a dozen works of non-fiction and criticism. He was a scholar of medieval literature, a teacher, and a critic of contemporary fiction. Gardner died in a motorcycle accident at the age of forty nine.
Gardner’s book, The Art of Fiction was published posthumously in 1984, two years after his death. The book was considered the preeminent ‘textbook’ for MFA programs and is still widely used. In his book, Gardner addresses the very many aspects of fiction writing – from characters to voice to plot to dialogue to setting. He also focuses on mistakes that writers make.
Gardner writes at length about technical error but what is particularly intriguing are his ‘faults of the soul’ – sentimentality, frigidity, and mannerism. He states that sentiment in good fiction is essential but sentimentality ruins it. First, characters must be worthy of the sentiment they are trying to extract from readers – sympathy, love, distress, or anger. Second, he suggests that a writer must tell the complete story and let the events, fully described, move the reader rather than writing melodrama and forcing sympathy from readers by using clichés – puppies, babies and such.
Frigidity, according to Gardner is one of the worst faults possible in literature. It means that a writer is not as connected to his characters as he should be and will reveal this in a slip that is easily caught by a slightly accomplished reader. It particularly refers to a writer presenting very serious material and then failing to carry it through with the seriousness it deserves.
Gardner describes Mannerism as a tic, a way of writing which is different from style, where the writer’s own ego inserts itself into the writing. He says that all three flaws – sentimentality, frigidity, and mannerism, have nothing to do with technique or anything else that is literary; rather these are character flaws in the writer. He says that writing teachers rarely provide feedback and correction on the writer’s character as this makes both people uncomfortable. However, it is important that a beginning writer realize these flaws along with all the technical ones because without that realization, the writer will never achieve perfection in the way a true artist must at least strive for.
So, yes, writing can be taught and is being done so very effectively. However, there are flaws a writer can correct easily and flaws that a writer can’t. Identifying these and understanding them is more important than any other action a writer can take because that is what ultimately separates the good writers from the great ones.
Priya Hajela is the author of Ladies’ Tailor, published by Harper Collins India.