How do you learn to write well outside of a university? Is talent the only way?

How do you learn to write well outside of a university? Is talent the only way?

I'll be honest and say I am trash at writing. Anything I put on paper is garbled, discordant, and sounds like it was written by a 12 year old. Ideas that feel concrete and well defined in my head become nothing when I try to write them down. And not being in school I cannot even get honest critique or constructive criticism to try and improve. But I really, really want to learn how to write well. Like it fucking hurts not being able to do so. help

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wwnorton.com/college/history/america-essential-learning/docs/BFranklin-Autobiography-1788.pdf
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By truly mastering punctuation, especially the use of semi-colon and em-dash; only then does writing reveal itself—becoming self-evident.

...

But I haven't been to college.
>Here's a lesson in creative writing
He's right. Did I commit an act of "creative-writing"? No.
Wait . . .
>All THEY do is show YOU've (?) been to college.

The first draft of everything sucks.

OP learning to write in a university can be very damaging, and sets you up to being no more than a poster boy for the establishment.

Houellebecq didn't attend writing school, Poe didn't, Lovecraft didn't, etc.......Many writers did, especially contemporary ones who are basically just good self-publicists, but I respect writers more if they didn't simply buy their way to the top, so to speak.

Plus, teaching writing is lost on most. I know of debut authors who studied EngLit for four years, then attended various MA / MFAs and are still shite.

Really you need to read well, and read thoroughly and widely. Nothing you write before the age of about 23 will be good.

is this bait? im unashamedly triggered

I also hate semicolons. What I really can't stand is "--" though.

Love Kurt, but this is foolish. Punctuation like the semicolon and emdash just guide reading. They're not necessary, can be avoided probably, but I think they contribute to cadence and form pretty often. They are useful tools.

Read the classics.
you'll learn that the best authors only follow conventions with purpose. They are unafraid of straying from the norm. The norm is boring.
After you've read enough, you'll discover your favorite authors/writing styles, and you'll naturally begin to emulate those in your own writing.
In time and practice, you will have your own unique voice when you write, which I believe is what separates the good from the great.

>inb4tl;dr
just read

It sounds like you're referring specifically to nonfiction/essay writing. The advice I can give you is to read well-written essays from top essayists to get a feel for how they make their points effectively and stylishly.

Check out the part of Ben Franklin's autobiography where he talks about how he learned to write well: wwnorton.com/college/history/america-essential-learning/docs/BFranklin-Autobiography-1788.pdf

It begins around page 6 and continues for a few pages, though there are tangents dispersed throughout. It's pretty decent advice.

Seconded.

OP: quit judging yourself and worrying about judgment from others for now. Focus simply on writing. Don't intentionally write slop - be serious, but try to enjoy the process.

Write an hour a day. Just do it

Write a short book each week.

>How do you learn to write well
By reading well. University has nothing to do with it.

Get a notebook and carry it around with you. Write whatever occurs to you that is worth writing, be it however garbled and incoherent. Eventually, by doing this enough, you should improve. A big part of it is reading through your writing and being capable of discerning what is good and what isn't, and then building on the good stuff.

Writing isn't something that talented people can just sit down and do, producing a polished work at the end -- you have to be okay with moulding a seemingly formless block of information into something coherent. Even the most talented of writers are probably quite disorganised in the early stages. Good quality writing takes shape at the end of the process.

Agreed. "Read more" is the most important lesson.
School can be fun too, don't be disuaded so easily from that.

>Read the classics.
>You'll learn that the best authors are unafraid of occasionally straying from the norm—it gets dull.
Once you've read enough, as you discover them, you'll begin to emulate them. In time, you too will have your own unique voice; which is what separates the good from the great.

Semi-colons and em-dash—when read and applied correctly—become invisible, just like any comma; the haters of their use only show they've read nothing but 20–21th-century fiction, and so, are unfamiliar with them.
But I'm only 22.

Let me help you
>em-dash = instead of parentheses, or comma, (like those) when you really want your reader to note what's within, or when a colon doesn't fit; there are also some other minor uses.
>parentheses = for fun
>comma (like exampled earlier) = when what is within is of little importance, now I have to use parantheses (like that, almost, not really) excluding all the other uses of comma.

Yo you fucked up the form of this post so bad I hardly understand what you're replying to and what is said or what is implied.

I'm obviously busting your balls in the last part.
But, yes, I missed a third meme arrow.

No worries. Just hard to read, but I agree w/ your post.

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