Read the first three paragraphs of this. Then look at point five on the first page here. You'll find that it's fairly typical of all writing books and always appears early. No teacher or book teaches an adherence to rules. They deal in structure. The writer, using the acquired knowledge uses it to support style and voice, which is what makes us enjoy one writer and hate another. The idea that learning craft in some way restricts us is like wanting to learn nothing about the tools and knowledge of the carpenter before trying to build a house. After all, we've lived in them all our lives, and seen them being built, so what more do we need?
Anyone wishing to continue this discussion is invited to do so in the nearby thread entitled "Instruction vs. General Reading - The final showdown?"
As for classes on writing being recent, they're not. Dickens taught writing, though it was more of a vocational course for employees than before film forced writers to develop techniques to compete by placing the reader more directly on the scene a journalistic education sufficed,and was a fairly common path to success. But Robert Louis Stephenson's, Essays on the Art of Writing was released in 1905, eleven years after his death. That's not recent. For more on teaching methods used before modern craft try this it's interesting to note that Dickens addressed the same, "Just write what comes to you," pretty strongly. People use him as an example of that technique, but he was just the opposite. He taught writing to the people he employed to ensure the level of quality in the product. It also turns out that a lot of the statements that "Writing is art and can't be taught," was an attempt to mystify the art of writing and reduce competition. The dissertation is fascinating reading. But in the end, something to chew on. If you can learn things here you can learn them from a book. And personally, I'd look to a pro first.
