5 Terrible Writing Habits You Learned in School

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Most of us grew up taking English classes in school — but, as educational as these classes were, they also taught us some bad habits that can hinder our creative writing. Today, I’m going to go over five of these terrible writing habits might have been ingrained in you during school — and offer tips on how to unlearn them so your creative writing can truly flourish.

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BAD WRITING HABITS YOU PICKED UP IN SCHOOL:
01:06 – Sticking to rigid grammar rules
03:11 – Overusing figurative language   
05:42 – Using flowery vocabulary
07:17 – Prioritizing writing over storytelling
08:28 – Writing to please someone else
 
ABOUT ME: 
My name is Alyssa Matesic, and I’m a professional book editor with nearly a decade of book publishing and editorial experience. Throughout my career, I’ve held editorial roles across both sides of the publishing industry: Big Five publishing houses and literary agencies. The goal of this channel is to help writers throughout the book writing journey—whether you're working on your manuscript or you're looking for publishing advice.
 
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[Free_Range_Hippo]

An add-on for the portion about figurative language: Make sure your figurative language matches the character and personality of your narrator. A cowboy who’s never seen a ballet isn’t necessarily going to think about “tiny ballerinas” while watching the rain.

[babavee]

A hundred years ago, when i was eleven and just started at the 'big' school' our new english teacher told us to put our arms on the desk, put our heads on our arms and look out of the window. She then put on a record, La Calinda by Delius. When it had finished, she simply said, "Wriite down how this made you feel." What a teacher! Thank you Mrs. Taylor.

[LiteraryStoner]

For the longest while I was stuck on "every paragraph MUST be 4-5 sentences. Always. No matter what." Because that's what I learned in English class. Formal writing and creative writing are such different beasts. Love the video :)

[willywantoknow]

Thank you! Sound of freedom! Stiff collars are usually a pain in the neck. How can one call it art if it has to conform to the box. Freedom gently restrained by a invisible fine guide line is how a kite flies.

[joevaldez]

Alyssa, I'm so proud of you nearly reaching 50, 000 followers. In addition to being the subject matter expert in publishing you always were, your skills as a writer and producer have blossomed. I usually laugh at least once during your videos now.

I think writing classes or instructors are best treated like bars or bartenders. You can frequent them in your twenties while you're trying to figure out who you are, but at a certain stage, they're not good for your health. I wouldn't operate motor vehicles or heavy machinery after taking a writing class either. Your reflexes will be impaired.

[amberl]

I've known that I was a writer since I was 10. That being said, I did not enjoy English classes. I found them boring. Standard grade English classes focused more on grammar and technical issues, as you said. I liked when we would learn about composition or story analysis, but those times were few. It wasn't until college, when I could take dedicated comp and fiction courses, that I came to enjoy English classes. Thanks for the informative video!

[mariep]

Back in the 90s when I started writing, every writing teacher and author I listened to or who wrote about writing said never to use the word 'was'. I wondered what they thought of Dickens's 'it was the best of times. It was the worse of times'. For years I had a hard time using 'was' in my writing. I eventually got over it, since it WAS stifling my writing.

[cjpreach]

As a high school student, I did not learn grammar. Decades later, as the Language teacher, my students learned grammar. There's my character arc. Language instruction requires both technical and creative training. And it's so much fun!

[ArizonaWriter]

Awesome video, Alyssa! I still remember English classes throughout my schooling even though it's been over forty years since I received my diploma. I also remember my creative writing in those classes being marked down for not following rules that didn't feel natural to what I was trying to write. So, even though writing and storytelling has always come naturally to me, the struggle to undo the damage has been real.

Fortunately, my creative style has naturally broken away from the "rules" about the use of fragments and starting sentences with conjunctions. I start sentences in my narrative with conjunctions much of the time. And fragments. One other thing I'm forcing myself to do when writing natural character dialogue (unless the character is formal in their speech), is having them say "Me and so-and-so" instead of "So-and-so and I." My use of figurative language is fairly spare and only used in context of the character; I also have to be aware of the origins of figures of speech because my stories take place in a future where they may not have been universal enough to still be in use or relevant.

When it comes to flowery language, however, I run into problems. I've always been an articulate person, even when very young, so large words come so naturally to me that they creep into my writing even if not appropriate to the character or the narrative. I find myself having to "dumb down" some of my words because, for example, my (albeit very smart) mechanic with a standard education is unlikely to use the same words as my geneticist who had an upper-class upbringing and education.

But probably my biggest challenge hasn't been holdovers from English class but relearning how to write in prose, because my first twenty-odd years post-graduation were focused on screenwriting, where you shouldn't provide a lot of description (directors don't want to be told how to shoot their scenes) and you mustn't overuse "parentheticals" (because actors don't want to be told how to deliver their lines). I'm getting there, though, and hope to be looking for an editor for my first novel by early next year.

Thanks again for all you do!

[adamfrance]

This is my favorite video of yours. I am a published author and writing teacher of 25 years. I teach both regular "essay" based English classes and creative writing. The first thing I tell my seniors in creative writing is to forget everything they have learned about writing in their formal education--tongue in cheek, sort of. I have them stop thinking about syntax and focus on diction, finding different ways to connect words and ideas while finding their voice. Thanks for helping to spread the word that breaking the rules of writing is okay. I'm going to use this video in my class.

[lewiscrow]

What I hated most in English class was not what teachers and textbooks taught us to write, but how they insisted we discern the author's purpose for X, Y, or Z in analyzing stories we read. One question remains burned in my mind after 40+ years: "Describe Poe's use of irony in The Cask of Amontillado." It conjured up a picture of Poe, sitting at his table, pen in hand, saying, "Ah, I think I will use some irony in this scene." Questions about author intent or use of symbolism in stories drove me crazy. It was literary psychoanalysis, and today I call them "English teacher questions."

[imaginepageant]

Pretty sure the inexplicably popular book How to Lose the Time War did all of these things. The purpliest prose I’ve ever read, nonsensical metaphors on every other line, a story with such a huge plot hole I went back to re-read a couple of chapters thinking I must’ve missed something (I hadn’t). This book is insufferable. Why do people love it?!

[smokinggnu]

"Think back to your english classes in school"
So think back 20 years? Yeesh, that's a bit foggy tese days.

/feels old now

Edit: Just gotta add that english was a 2nd language highschool subject for me, so the whole subject was... a lot less intensively taught. Especially around where i was.
I mostly just read english books and learned the names of all the different types of words (which i've mostly forgotten by now and have to re-google every now and then). With that i got a B as my final grade.

[larssjostrom]

Tolkien used the word undulating to describe rolling hills. Undulate means an up and down shape like waves on the sea. Nowadays the word is quite popular among fantasy authors, perhaps especially Brandon Sanderson. For instance: "the floorboards started to undulate" in The Alloy of Law, now suddenly the word is a movement and not a physical description of a landscape.

[MeganAcuna]

Something else to unlearn: “said is dead.” This one threw me for a loop when I got back into fiction writing!

[DannyBoy]

Love the ruffle shirt. Good thumbnail too. Best writing and book advice on the internet. Period.

[InvestigatingDavidCrowley]

I had a love/hate relationship with writing and English. While in High School the classes were soul-wrenching. When I took Creative Writing in college, writing became a joy. I have to say, though, I still struggle with knowing it is okay to break these writing habits when needed.

[TheEccentricRaven]

Throughout my school years, I hated how Language Arts class would teach us what not to do, but then I would read a critically acclaimed book that broke every rule the English teacher taught.

[walteroakley]

When I was in school, I had issues with english class. I moved around a lot as a kid so I encountered many schools where proper grammar either wasn't taught that year, or at least wasn't taught very well. Grammar rules always seemed arbitrary to me, and when I asked for a clear-cut definition or explanation of why something was wrong. I could never get a straight answer. The other issue I had is that I had to lobby the teachers to let me read books that I found interesting. Sci-fi, fantasy, I loved it when we did a unit on Arthurian Legend or Greek Mythology, but had no interest in reading many of the books that were on the syllabus.

[AnnoyingMoose]

In regards to Point 3 - Don't use a big word when a singularly unloquacious and diminutive linguistic expression will satisfactorily accomplish the contemporary necessity.