November 30, 2025

What Teaching English Changed in My Writing

Teaching English trained my ear before it trained my argument.

In classrooms, tone is never abstract.

You know immediately when students trust a line and when they switch off.

I learned to hear when language opens a door and when it closes one.

That has shaped my prose style, my dialogue, and my patience as a reviser. It also shaped my view of people.

Any teacher who pays attention knows no one is one thing only, and fiction must make room for that complexity.

Clive

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