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Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda
[...]The exercise under discussion will do nothing to further the first basic skill. But it is extremely valuable as a means of developing the other three. Particularly the last one. Fledgeling writers, in my experience, tend to be delicate and tentative. Before tackling grammar, before diving into an analysis of story structure or market trends, it can be incredibly valuable to simply experience the act of creation: to discover the techniques that keep the words flowing onto the page, to convince oneself that yes, this can really be done, and it is worth doing.
Will the product of such an exercise be immediately salable? Probably not. But it is far, far more than merely a therapeutic exercise.
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Very much this!
When it comes right down to it, for a lot of people the hardest part of writing is the thing that seems the simplest: actually sitting down and writing. If you get all clogged up worrying about grammar and spelling you may never start, you may never find that experience that takes over when it starts to work. You may never find out if you like it, whether it is therapeutic for
you. And you may never find out whether you can tell an effective story - and that's what counts. Much of what remains is technical detail that can be dealt with later.
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Originally Posted by Dr. Drib
I respectfully disagree.
Writing is therapeutic - every act of writing is, in my opinion - and with it one discovers new linkages to that which makes us human.
One can break writing down into any number of elements one cares to make - your scenario seems workable enough - but another scenario might be just as effective.
Fledgling writers may certainly be delicate and hesitant, but it's not a rule or a given. Look at Ann Rice (although certainly not a fledgling writer!) and her cult of personality - she's as narcissistic as they come.  |
It's not an either-or situation. For those that try their hand at writing, and like it, it can be therapeutic and so they keep doing it. But the point is that we learn best by actually doing. Like most other things we do in life, the more time we spend doing it the better we get at it. So it's more than therapy, it's educational in a great many ways, and essential if we ever hope to get proficient at it.