Realizing that writing is the avenue you would like to explore will require some kind of academic instruction, workshops or classes to gain a understanding of how to write that will help us gain confidence in what we want to do with our writing. When we decide that we want to write some of us may have an inventory of life experiences, knowledge to use as material and direction. Some may have no exposure to writing and are true virgins in the area of composition, research, structure then are introduced to an academic structure which can become engrained in the way they write leading to expectations. It seems as time progresses as well as technology it will be challenging to teach writing as a uniformed one templated way of learning being part of an academic curriculum to fit everyone’s needs and abilities especially as time goes on and we pick up things along the way that we could use in our writing such as more methods, classes, and instructions.
Eventually the teaching or continuation of writing will come down to our interest and abilities to write depending on how we are being taught or who is teaching us. There will be some who want to continue and learn more about how to write for their local newspaper and be the voice of their community, some may want to write poetry for themselves, others want to be published whether academically or in a print of some kind such as a novel. One’s ambitions will matter as well as their audience they decide to write for and what type of writing they want to do. Once this is figured out through refining ones writing, feedback and a process of elimination of what resources they have learned in a academic setting to best apply to their writing, then possibly a more specified learning can be taught towards the type of writing aligned with their efforts and interest such as journalism. But teaching writing to individuals and having a plethora of instruction or instructors could complicate things, an overabundance of material, styles, curriculums combined with the agendas of those wanting to learn want to write. The authority of our writing and who we learn from are also significant factors. We use the material from research for our own purposes that is affected by how much we know already or academic communities we are presenting the findings to. Our voice becomes one that wants to be heard and understood by a certain community and audience of readers. We are all tainted to produce a certain type of writing that others will want to read and being informed properly or accepted materials. There will be inner negotiation and refinement that takes place as we write to be heard or sometimes conform to a particular trend of writing that seems to be receiving attention but is not our most useful outlet.
Maybe the question should not be how we teach writing or make it apply to everyone’s needs, being that everyone comes to the table with a different appetite, allergy, culture, knowledge of what they want or intentions. Some may want a snack some a big meal or to just try something new. I think we really need to understand what makes us different and our intentions of wanting to write first. That being a reflection of our self as well as those who are providing the instruction such as an academic writing course or continuing education involving a specific form, genre of writing that one’s compelled they are good at showing potential or where their voice resonated off the page the most. Sometimes though as we learn more about writing and are exposed to feedback there may be the possibility that we blend genres, changing our style and I feel this is a form of being taught by fellow writers and not always by classroom instruction. Writing is an evolving skill that should have a certain basis of beginning when being taught and understanding that what you are taught may need some , but once those are exhausted and we feel like we have obtained a certain social certification or level of achievement to call ourselves a writer the way we write is going to be as different as the way we drive. We know there are rules, but some will break them when no one is looking to get to their location faster and even be rewarded for them, others may get called out for doing so with a verbal citation of discourse.
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