How Benjamin Franklin Learned to Become A Better Writer

While reading Benjamin Franklin’s autobiography recently, I found an interesting passage about how teenage Ben learned to teach himself how to write better. He loved to read, but hadn’t yet developed the writing abilities he later became known for (this was also years before he became known for his inventions and scientific discoveries). Particularly motivated by his father’s remarks that his writing had fallen “far short in elegance of expression, method, and perspicuity”, young Franklin became determined to improve his quality of writing.

Ben Franklin’s Learning Strategies

1. Be your own writing teacher.

Since he wasn’t in a position to hire a personal writing coach, Franklin found a magazine that published the kind of writing he admired and taught himself to write better by first imitating that style:

About this time I met with an odd volume of the Spectator. It was the third. I had never before seen any of them. I bought it, read it over and over, and was much delighted with it. I thought the writing excellent, and wished, if possible, to imitate it.

-Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

He started by reading several articles in the Spectator and writing down short descriptions of the content in each sentence. Franklin then waited a few days to put some distance between his inspiration and his efforts. He then tried to reproduce the articles, in as detailed and well-written a manner as the originals, but in his own way. Finally, he reviewed the originals, compared them with his efforts, and made corrections where necessary.

2. Write poetry to expand your vocabulary.

Franklin compared his writing with that of the Spectator and realized he wasn’t utilizing a wide enough variety of words:

I found I wanted a stock of words, or a readiness in recollecting and using them, which I thought I should have acquired before that time if I had gone on making verses.

-Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

So for vocabulary practice Franklin went to the Spectator articles he so admired and took on the challenge of transforming them into poems. Then, after waiting a few days, he transformed the poems back into prose. This exercise helped him improve his word choice and expand the vocabulary he could draw upon when writing.

3. Structure your writing with a logic puzzle.

Franklin shuffled his notes to learn how to better arrange his thoughts:

I also sometimes jumbled my collections of hints into confusion, and after some weeks endeavored to reduce them into the best order, before I began to form the full sentences and compleat the paper.

-Benjamin Franklin, Autobiography of Benjamin Franklin

After writing “sentence hints” on separate sheets of paper and mixing them up, Franklin waited for his memory of the original structure to fade. Then he rewrote the article in the order most logical to him at that later time, comparing the result with the original Spectator article and improving the clarity and flow of his writing along the way.

You can teach yourself to become a better writer

If you would not be forgotten as soon as you are dead and rotten, either write something worth reading or do things worth the writing.

-Benjamin Franklin

Young Benjamin Franklin didn’t have the Internet. He didn’t have writing instructional books. Nor did he have a dedicated writing teacher. But he did have a goal: to become a better writer. From there, he created his own exercises that pushed him outside of his comfort zone. He also sought his own feedback by comparing his completed exercises to the original articles in the Spectator. With a clear goal, challenging exercises, and self-review, anyone can teach himself to become a better writer.

Photo by Carla Gabriel Garcia