Sir, - John Boland says he is "sceptical about writing courses, being of the old-fashioned belief that you can't teach people how to write
" (Bookworm, July 12th).
I have come across this attitude before and am getting a bit tired of it. Where does it come from, this idea that, whereas musicians need lessons and painters need to go to art school, writers must spring up full-grown?
An ivory tower is an awfully lonely place, and writers, even gifted ones, are not all born with the self-confidence of a John
Boland . Teachers of writing courses provide feedback and useful suggestions. They encourage writers to go on writing, to take that first timid step towards submitting their work for publication, or to try again in spite of rejection slips. Emerging authors not provided by nature or nurture with Bolandesque self-esteem often leave manuscripts for years in a desk drawer, in a box under the stairs or on the hard disc of a computer. A good writing course gives them the incentive to take out those manuscripts, dust them off, polish them up or rewrite them completely. Or it may inspire them to begin work on something new and original. But no doubt your columnist would prefer to cling to the "old-fashioned belief" that inspiration comes from starving in a garret, chewing a pencil and hiding from the landlady on rent days. - Yours, etc.,
GRAINNE FARREN,
Blackrock,
Co Dublin.