Forget These High School Writing Lessons

​High school writing classes teach us many lessons. We develop foundational skills that we apply for the rest of our lives—and sometimes that's not such a great thing. Fiction writers, particularly, spend time un-learning lessons from high school.

Here are a few tendencies you may have picked up while learning how to write the perfect college admission essay.

Strictly Structure Paragraphs
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High school essays comprise very structured paragraphs. Introduction, two to three sentences, and transition or conclusion. Fiction writers know that this is not the way of the world. A paragraph is a flexible tool we can use in the way that best suits the flow of the story.

With that said, some fiction writers overcorrect in defiance of the structured paragraph. For example, overusing one-sentence paragraphs can be extremely distracting for readers. Paragraph lengths should create a smooth reading experience and natural "breaths" for the reader. Tools such as one-sentence paragraphs jar the reader and should only be used when that is the intention.

Clearly Transition Between Ideas
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High school teachers love to encourage the use of transition words. Then, after, in addition to, furthermore, finally. These can all improve the clarity of academic prose, but in fiction, they are often unnecessary and irritating.

When writing fiction, we begin with the reader's assumptions, one of which is that statements and actions precede those in following sentences. There's no need to say "this happened and then that happened," because the reader assumes that the first statement happened first.

When the order of statements breaks readers' assumptions, we need to clarify. So you might specify that "this happened after that happened," since the structure does not align with the typical reader assumption.

Recap the Content in the Conclusion
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In high school, we're taught to end with a clear conclusion. This is still good advice for academic writing, but fiction writers don't usually tie up their plot in a neat bow. That can feel inauthentic to readers and can undermine the realistic and complex storylines you've created.

Instead, we focus on creating an ending that leaves readers feeling satisfied in one way or another. Depending on the genre and the author's intentions, the ending may or may not be happy, but it should feel like a strong and complete conclusion to the story (even for books in a series).

And of course, we don't like to rehash the plot in the final chapter. The ending should feel organic, not like a recap of the story.

Thesaurus

Many of us learn in high school to use less common words in order to sound "smarter." But for fiction writers, this makes your prose opaque and far less immersive. We don't want readers to rely on context clues or to need a dictionary by their side to understand the story.

That's not to say our language has to be simple—I'm not advocating for "see Spot run" prose. The complexity of language in fiction usually comes from creative and immersive imagery and from a nuanced vocabulary. We work to develop and apply an arsenal of words that insinuate different emotions, without resorting to GRE words.

Use the basics. Forget the rest.

As writers, we are always growing and learning. Ernest Hemingway said, "We are all apprentices in a craft where no one ever becomes a master." Part of that apprenticeship involves learning new things and replacing outdated knowledge.

We should never maintain strategies or habits simply because that's the way we've always written or because that's how we were taught. Question the "why" behind your methods, and never be afraid to change or adapt. Keep learning, researching, reading, and listening to experts. And let your writing continue to improve. After all, no one wants to be in high school forever.

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