Posted by For writers, I think that this is something that is a bit of a misnomer. I say that because I think that everything that you write, is a lesson. So, I’m going to narrow this down to mean things that aren’t professional lessons. And the answer is that once you have a foundation, you probably don’t need them.
Practice is what you need. For a writer, this can come from reading works that you aspire to be like or through writing and pushing your writing to be better. Which means editing and drafts. That is your review process to critique yourself and see where you made mistakes and learn from them. Overtime, you will make less and less of those mistakes and your form will improve.
On twitter I answered a question recently that asked about works that you have abandoned. Thinking back on it, I guesstimated that I had millions of words worth of works that I have left behind, but I don’t feel that they are really abandoned. They are alive in my new works as lessons that I learned and I may go back to some of them, now that I have learned, and I might be able to write them in the way that I had pictured them when I had tried to write them but instead left because I couldn’t realize them.
The exception in here is getting your book edited. In a way, this is a lesson because someone else is helping you to see your mistakes and where you can improve. In that sense, they are giving you a lesson and you are learning from them.
The other part of this is self study. These days, with the internet, there is so much information out there that you can find the answers to most of your questions with a little searching. The one problem with this is, like this blog, most of what you are going to find are personal experiences and opinions. I’m not saying that these are bad, but they may not match your needs very well, and you’ll usually need to look through a lot of them to find exactly what you need. In a way, these are like self-study lessons and you are learning what you need from someone else and then applying it to yourself.
The main thing is to find what works for you. Maybe going to a college or a seminar and taking some lessons will help you level-up your work. Or maybe you are like me and the rigidness of most of those routes stifles you. The main thing is to find what you need and then to make it happen. Learn from everything and everyone around you. Life is the greatest teacher.
Publications by Me
If you would like to read one of my books, follow any of the links below and enjoy. If you like what you read, please leave a review when you are finished reading it. Reviews help me to know your thoughts and help others know if a book is for them. Thank you.
Account of the Change Series:
J.G. Johnson 