Here, I will quickly describe what I consider to be the qualities of the three main stages in a writer’s development, and how those pertain to writing tuition. 

Please note, these categories are used to describe a writer's educational progress; they are not intended to describe the final qualities of published literature. 

The Early-Stage Writer

The early-stage writer has not yet committed many words to the page. They may have taken a few runs at a story or scene or two. They likely read a reasonable amount, and may have been entertaining the idea of giving it a go for themselves but haven’t quite committed yet. When they do write, they may often fall foul of literary cliché (there is a cliché in this sentence, can you see it?), or struggle with the basics of form, such as the difference between showing and telling. They may have started to delve into creative writing literature, reading books or internet sources that offer writing instruction, but are unsure how to implement the advice in their own work. 

The defining features of the early-stage writer are having written less than a few thousand words, uncertainty about their own work, and susceptibility to cliché.

The Intermediate Writer

The intermediate writer has written tens of thousands of words. Depending on which stage you’re at, this might sound like a lot of words. However, as any writer who has committed to regular practice will tell you, those words accumulate quickly. Even if a writer can only find time for a hundred words per day—shorter in length than this  paragraph—within six months they will be pushing towards twenty thousand words! Comparable to roughly ten short stories or a quarter of a standard-length novel. Regardless of the overall quality of the writing in question, the intermediate writer is able to look back on their earliest efforts, and observe comparable improvements in the latest work, however slight. The intermediate writer reads a lot of books and has started to actively seek instruction, even if only from print or online sources. They have started to understand and implement some elements of craft which were previously unknown to them. They are able to edit their own work towards improvement, based on their accumulated knowledge, and can avoid common literary clichés. And they have developed a gathering curiosity about some of the formal aspects of writing: what makes for good dialogue, for example, or how to navigate tense and POV to better serve their work. 

The defining features of the intermediate writer are small, observable improvements in some areas of craft, and a desire to learn more, with increased rigour, and improved analytic skills. 

The Advanced Writer

The advanced writer has written hundreds of thousands of words. Again, this may sound like a lot. But a committed creative practice of a few years, at just a hundred words per day, will see you reach these figures. This does not necessarily mean they work on long-form projects, as a short story writer, for example, will not be required to do that. Only that they have written a large number of shorter pieces over a period of years. The advanced writer has a disciplined writing schedule and superior analytic skills. This allows them to assess their own writing and avoid cliché with confidence and certainty. They can usually achieve the literary effects they set out for themselves at the beginning of a project. They understand the elements of form native to their chosen genre(s), and they understand where their work is situated within a larger literary culture from extensive reading and research. They demonstrate increased control over both the macro and micro elements of literary form: from overarching narrative structure down the the voice and style of the paragraphs and sentences. The advanced writer, however, may still see room for improvement. Their increased ability to judge their own work will expose them to flaws that were previously unseen, and they will strive for improvement in those areas. In spite of majority opinion, the advanced stage has little to do with achieving published work. It covers a broad range of writers from astute ‘amateur’ to regularly published novelist. And due to the financial pressures of the publishing industry, there’s no reason to consider the former less advanced than the latter, only less marketable, which has no bearing on matters of skill. 

The defining features of the advanced writer are a disciplined writing practice that has allowed them reach large word-counts across a number of projects, the easy identification of cliché, and the ability to assess (and defend) their own creative strategies in rigorous terms.

There is one further stage which I will briefly touch upon here:

The Artist

The artist’s work is perfect. It is not, however, perfect because it is free of flaws. It is perfect because its flaws are among its finest features. The artist has absorbed all elements of craft within their medium, which have become second-nature and can be called upon or ignored with little conscious effort. The artist is able to deploy flaws, errors, clichés, idiosyncrasies and inconstancies, and break every maxim in the
rulebook to achieve meaningful and long-lasting literary effects. The artist has surpassed the need for instruction of any kind beyond that of a professional literary editor. If you are the artist, there’s nothing I can do for you. Get out of here!

Aside from this final stage, of which we will speak no more, the writers to whom I can offer most beneficial support are those in the intermediate and advanced stages of their development. I am a very technically-oriented tutor, and a certain amount of pre-existing knowledge is helpful if the time and money you’re going to spend will be worthwhile.

Next: Advice for Early-Stage Writers