Teaching Philosophy
The best way to teach a writing student either fiction or memoir (which is what I teach) is to offer them both encouragement and
guidance. It takes a long time for students to figure out exactly what the stories are they want to tell, but without this type of positive
involvement on my part, there is little incentive to stay the course.
It is difficult to sustain a commitment to writing, because of many factors, but in particular because of the length of time it takes to learn
the craft. This may be what takes the most amount of patience, from both the teacher and the student. An awful lot of repetition is
necessary, and new and helpful ways to explain each craft element must constantly be summoned in order to generate in the student an
enthusiasm for what can seem tedious or even pointless.
Years and years of study are required. One of the benefits to learning the craft is that you probably never run out of things to learn or to try.
But the real challenge for me has always been how to keep the interest alive when we live in a culture that values product over process.
Too many times students have to listen to questions about when and where they have been published rather than receiving the support
and encouragement they need for taking on such a difficult art form.
This can affect the basis of my working relationship with a student. Many times I have listened eagerly to new students define a project
that they truly are attached to, feel the drive to work on almost every day. But then two things happen, the order doesn't seem to matter.
One thing is they run into a wall. The wall is my word. It refers to a multitude of problems ranging from not knowing who the characters
really are and therefore what their motivation might be, to not having built a firm foundation of plot, to not utilizing the best narrative voice,
to discovering there are aspects of the character(s) you don't feel comfortable writing about. At any one of these junctures, and there are
others as well, the project begins to look both daunting and unachievable. However, I think what is ultimately the culprit here in
undermining the student's confidence in the project is the realization that this is a very long process.
Time then becomes the adversary, especially with students in a rush for success. For them, the constant questioning and need to ask
"what if" is a hindrance to getting the story finished. Change is always difficult. When you are unaccustomed to the kind of thinking that is
necessary to writing, when you have not yet experienced having finished many stories, you cannot rely on yourself to either give the
requisite feedback or trust your own process.
Everything we write about is about ourselves and what the current struggle is at that moment affects both how and what we write. The
writing allows us a way to work through that and to find some resolution. However, the process of achieving resolution (and I know the
questioners are now saying what does this have to do with a teaching philosophy?) comes through working out the dictates of the story.
Every story wants to be itself. The biggest time consumer of writing is finding exactly what the story is and then shaping it to make it work.
This is what I basically teach. This, to me, is the most thrilling part of that wonderful student-teacher relationship. If I could be allowed to
spend all my teaching time brainstorming what the story wants to be, that aspect of my life would be perfect.
The other aspect of teaching is also necessary. I must encourage all my students to dedicate themselves to learning the craft by
constantly writing. In addition, it is undeniably true that they must always be reading the best of whatever genre they are interested in
writing so that they can learn how others have done it, so they can learn what the canon is, find their place in it, talk to it, respond to it. It is
in this way, by staying attentive to the rigors of the craft and to the richness of the literature that has preceded them that they will find their
voice and the stories they must write.
Writing is a way of life. In a very real sense it is equivalent to taking a vow of obedience. You must obey your inner demons and ideas and
all the thoughts and desires and feelings and images that most people on a daily basis choose to ignore. You must obey the necessity
of discipline. You must understand sacrifice. You must enjoy spending lots of time alone. You must not need instant gratification. You
must be willing to accept frustration on a massive scale as well as a kind of ecstasy that few will be able to share with you. You must be
willing to spend your time studying, meaning reading and learning how to read so that you know how a story was put together, so that
you could take it apart and put it back together. What I'm describing yes is a way of life, but also a passion, and the way in which that
passion becomes manifested in the writer.
In teaching fiction and memoir writers, my mission, if you want to call it that, is to instill the above. If a student can feel that passionately
about writing then they will be able to find their story, their voice, and the joy of being a writer. It is probably presumptuous to assume that
all writers feel this way or to demand that all students feel this way. Perhaps it is just in my opinion preferable to feel this way if you're
going to spend as much time as it takes to learn how to do it well. There are no guarantees in life. No one can ensure that what they
spend a lifetime learning to do will ever grant them either material or publishing success. So there have to be other reasons for doing it.
These are the reasons I have come to accept and incorporate into my life. This is what I think makes the process both bearable and
enjoyable. Many people use the analogy of physical exercise when describing various aspects of the writing process. To me the most
salient one is if you don't look forward to running or swimming or whatever you do, that your day feels incomplete without that, the same
is true of writing. Not all of us can write every day. Not all of us are capable of it or have the time. You don't have to write every day all day in
order to learn how to be a good writer. Just as with the running, the body needs time to recover and to rest. But the necessity of constancy
cannot be overstated. This is how we grow with a project, by living with our characters, by constantly thinking about solutions to the
problems in the story, and by searching for the best way to use the language to convey our ideas.
There are many demands of the literary life that most of your friends and relatives will never be able to understand. That is why a
community of writers can be important to keeping you focused. And perhaps the steady, encouraging and challenging hand of a teacher
who is dedicated to this activity as much as you can be an essential aid in helping you find all the stories within you and to bringing them
to life on the page. That is what I see as my primary responsibility to my students.