What do you need to unlearn in order to become more creative? What things have you been taught or told about “good” writing that perhaps you should forget?

When I first saw this tip, I told Mrs. Gina that what I needed to unlearn was my entire Literature degree. Initially, it was a joke, but as I thought about it, I realized the truth of it. How many times have I sat down to write or looked back at writing from my younger years and thought, This would never make the cut in one of my Literature classes? But isn’t that what I’m going to school for? To learn what good Literature is, because reading and writing are my passion?

It hit me like a metaphorical freight train. I have assumed that my teachers give me novels that are considered good literature, but perhaps it is not so much about being good, as it is about being unique. Even that is subjective, though. My teachers chose those books because they influenced them in some way, and they wanted to share that experience with us.

Writing—fiction and non-fiction—is full of gray areas, so who is to say what is “good” or “bad” literature? Successful writers were not successful because they followed rules that were placed before them. Most of the time, they succeeded because they wrote something unusual that compelled someone to stop and think, This is amazing and I need to share it with others.

I recently read Samuel Richardson’s Pamela for my 18th Century British Literature class. In a very uneducated way, I told my teacher that it merely gave me feelings. Spoiler Alert! This book is about a virtuous servant who, repeatedly, is almost raped by her master; her reward for staying innocent is that she “gets” to marry him. Something you should know about me is that I don’t like to always love a novel. In fact, some of my favorite stories are ones that I absolutely hated.

Extreme emotional response.

Sometimes, I want a manuscript to have me screaming in frustration as everyone in my house questions my sanity. Every other person in my class despised this novel. I loved how much I hated it.

Which brings me to the ultimate point of this post. As writers, it is easy to feel as if we have to follow the same cookie cutter rhetoric and composition styles as people who have been “successful” at writing; however, even when we follow the “rules” of “good” writing, we never know exactly how an audience will interpret the work.

This may be blasphemy, but we may all be better writers if we had never read a book in our lives.

It is difficult not to compare ourselves to what other authors have already done, and it is even more difficult to build up enough confidence to put out a piece of work that is truly unique. You cannot know how readers will respond.

Imitating writing that you know has been received successfully isn’t likely to make you happy, even though it may feel like the safe way. If anything, imitation is stifling and causes you to write something that does not reflect who you really are. Unlearn what you think you know about being a writer, and let yourself find what it means on your own terms. There is someone out there waiting to be inspired by your book, not someone else’s.

The 97 Best Creativity Tips Ever! (2011), by Dr. Eric Maisel, was the inspiration for this post. Used with permission.

Bonnie Snow was an intern with Around the Writer’s Table, working toward a graduate certificate in publishing and editing while in her senior year at Florida State University. She is inspired by the editing field’s penchant for helping others see their dreams realized. It’s important to Bonnie that the art of editing come, not only from refining writers’ works, but also in understanding the vision that authors wish to impress upon others and fully supporting them in their fulfillment of their purpose and passion.