What It Means to Be a Writer

This is a lesson plan for high school and college students exploring what it means to be a writer by using directed journaling in response to Erica Jong's essay "All Writers Are Vain."

"All Writers Are Vain" can be found on pages one through three of The New Writer's Handbook 2007: A Practical Anthology of Best Advice for Your Craft & Career, edited by Philip Martin, from Scarletta Press in Minneapolis. [Published on June 7, 2007]

Pre-Reading Assignment -- Initial Journal Response Questions

Ask students to respond to the following questions in their journals:

• What is a writer?
• Are you a writer?
• If so, do you enjoy being a writer?
• If not, do you wish to be a writer?

Pre-Reading Discussion

Read the following quote aloud and ask students if they agree or disagree with the quote. Be sure to provide ample time for students to respond to one another. Attempt to be a mediator and facilitator and allow the students to explore their own ideas with one another with minimal interjections of your own opinions as an instructor and teacher.

"A writer is a someone who writes, that's all." -- Gore Vidal

Reading Assignment

Ask students to read Erica Jong's short essay, "All Writers Are Vain." When students have completed the reading assignment, ask them to take their journals out, along with something to write with.

Directed Journaling Questions

You may ask your students to respond to one, all, or some of the following directed journaling questions depending on the time available.

• Do you agree with Jong's assertion in the first paragraph? Can one find truth through writing? Have you ever found truth or clarity via writing?
• How do you think the conclusion of the second paragraph relate to the writing process?
• In response to the third paragraph, is writing the only thing that matters to you or is there something more valuable?
• How has the English language been debased in recent times? Do you think this debasement is inherently negative? Or do you think that debasement is part of the natural evolution of a language?
• What is the difference between someone who writes only for him or herself and someone who writes for others?
• Does the solitariness of writing cause depression or is the relationship reversed; does depression cause the writer to become solitary? Which answer do you support and which answer is Jong more likely to support?
• Do you think stage fright is applicable to writers?

Questions for More Advance Students

• Jong states in the second paragraph that "[T]he writer feels...the excitement of making order out of chaos." Do you believe James Joyce felt excitement while writing Ulysses? Was Joyce creating order out of chaos?
• While there are innumerable examples of writers who never became rich, can you provide specific examples of writers who have been "jailed or even assassinated"? What was so threatening about their ideas or writing that led to their ultimate demise?
• Is there a way for language, and perhaps therefore writers, to be valuable in 1984's land of Doublespeak?

Post-Reading Activity

Allow students who would like to share some of their journaled responses to do so to begin a follow-up discussion. Encourage all your students to believe that they are writers.

Additional Resources

Student Writing Journals

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