Why Writing skills Are Going Down Hill Fast (One Opinion)

I was recently talking with an author about how excited I was to read he writing and see how amazing it was compared to the other writing that is out there now. And when I say out there now, I am referring in many ways to both some of the published material and certainly a lot of the authors trying to get published. I know people ARE trying. I know people are not intentionally putting things out there that are bad and I also know that the industry is not just saying we are going to intentionally put out bad writing...

BUT....

On the whole, the writing is just not that strong. Plots are weak. Stories lack conflict. Characters are stereotypes and two-dimensional. Dialogue is flat. Narration is nothing more than telling and no showing. To add to this, writers have no clue what genre they are writing and just write something, call it what ever the see on a submission page or what someone tells them it is and hit send to an editor or agent. And then we get to query letters that are far from business level and professional. I'll just leave the synopsis for later. 

So, what happened.

Well, a long time ago, in a galaxy far, far away... schools quit teaching writing. That's right. Schools quit teaching writing. 

As many of you know, I am also a teacher. My wife is also a teacher. Let me tell you the cold hard truth. If a student, by the time they graduate from high school writes more than a 2 1/2 -3 page paper, they are a genius. They are not being taught MLA or APA formatting. They have not clue what in-text citations are or how they are connected to works cited pates or reference pages (IYKYK and if not you might be one of those people). And as far as reading, they aren't even doing that. In our school district, in grades 6-8, they only "read" 3 novels, and I put that in quotes because some teachers read it to the kids. By the time they hit high school, many teachers just show movies. 

As far as writing skills, they do not teach any of the basics. Even at the college level, they just teach students to "express their feelings" and not to write anything professional or academic.

And then we get to the novel writing...

Take a look at your latest conference you are attending. It will be filled with more sessions on marketing and e-book promotions than craft. And even then, the craft sessions are being taught by people who DO NOT know the craft. So, the person wrote a book. The conference person reached out to them and said, can you do a session "because they knew the person or they liked their last book." They said sure and made up a session. Are they truly trained in that? 

Look, I teach DEVELOPMENTAL EDITING, because I have a DEGREE IN ENGLISH and I AM AN ENGLISH TEACHER!!!!!! Sorry for the screaming, I should have warned you to turn the volume down.

The point is, we are not teaching people to even write any more. We are just telling people they can "publish their book easily."

In all honesty, if we want to improve writing, we have to start teaching writing. So here is what I want to encourage:

• If you are a parent, DEMAND that your kid's teacher teaches grammar, writing and full novel reading.
• DEMAND that conferences offer craft sessions with QUALITY and TRAINED instructors in the field. 
• DEMAND that your writing organizations (are you listing RWA?) start getting people to teach how to write the genre you are promoting and don't just get the latest hot commodity!