Becoming a Good Writer

AlexanderIII
Tue, 16 Jun 2015 17:02:18 +0000

Here comes our S: a good and very interested reader, enjoys Shakespeare and Terry Pratchett, can analyze almost any book well - verbally! Still, I have never seen worse essays in my life. His mind just jumps from one thought to another and while it can be acceptable in a discussion, it absolutely doesn’t work in writing - no matter the amount of practice and advice We are still looking for solutions… Do you have any?

A few posters have suggested working with a good editor who can mark up your son’s written work and identify the areas that aren’t clear or need reworking. This is a good first step, but when that editor reviews your son’s written work and breaks out his red pen, all he will be doing is showing your son what he did wrong. That’s a good first step, but it doesn’t get your son all the way home. If your son’s primary weakness is organizing his thoughts when he presents them in written form, he needs to be shown more than where his writing was weak or disorganized - he needs to be shown how his thoughts should have been organized. You may find a teacher who is willing to put this much time into assisting your son, but my guess is that you will have to find a good writing tutor (your son’s teachers may be able to recommend one). The tutor would be able to take one of your son’s written assignments and go through the normal editing process several times with your son. Once that is done and your son has improved the writing quality as much as he can, the tutor can then show your son how he/she would have written the assignment. As long as this last step comes after your son has put in the effort to improve the writing on his own it can be extremely valuable.

I don’t teach writing for a living, but I have mentored a lot of young attorneys, and this is the most effective tool I’ve found for improving legal writing. Legal writing isn’t much different from the expository writing your son will be asked to do in high school or college, so the techniques should apply equally well.