In my last post I mentioned a friend who said that writing did not involve talent, but rather practice. Her comment may have seemed harsh, but in the context of the conversation, I didn’t take it personally. We were discussing what went into art in its many forms, and were mostly just thinking aloud.

Her main point at the time was that singing is something you either have talent for or you don’t, it isn’t something you can learn. Whereas something like writing or drawing is something you can be taught to do.

I can’t remember my argument - or if I even had one - at the time, but I know I remain inclined to disagree. I can’t draw, and I can’t sing. I took art classes when I was little, private ones, at that, and my ability to draw anything is pretty much zero.

I think any artform requires some amount of talent (and perhaps most things do). Otherwise, anyone could walk into a creative writing course and learn about creating characters and writing plotlines, and go home and write something brilliant. Perhaps anyone can be “trained” to be a writer, even a good writer, but not everyone can be a great writer. And by “great” I mean accepted by a majority of people to be so, because as I said before, such things are subjective.

To me, entirely too much writing these days reads like the writer spent a fortune just teaching themselves to write. Doesn’t that just miss the point? I may be wrong, but I don’t think Jane Austen went out of her way to learn how to be a writer.

I’ve taken three creative writing classes in my entire life. The first was in high school, and I can honestly say I learned nothing. The next two were in college and I can honestly say I learned even less than the one in high school. I attempted to join the creative writing group in my special interest dorm (the main reason I even chose that dorm in the first place), and I stopped going after three weeks, because I literally wanted to kill everyone there. Not because they criticized my work (I didn’t stick around long enough for that) but because each one of them thought they were better than everyone else there, and it drove me insane.

That’s not to say that I’m opposed to writer’s circles, or creative writing classes or anything of the sort. I think they’re probably very beneficial to many writers. They simply don’t work for me. I don’t read writing magazines, I don’t have “How to Write a Book” books, I don’t have a big “I am a writer” inspirational sign over my computer (as I once read a writer recommend in one of those writing magazines). I just don’t. I tried it all at one time or another, and learned nothing that I wasn’t already doing, or that I found any value in.

But back to my point: talent. I’m not trying to imply that I have talent. I have no idea if I do or I don’t. I don’t really sit around thinking about these things. My main point is that I don’t think art can simply be learned.

I’ve read a lot of articles that tell you how to shape a character, how to write an outline, how to build a plot, use foreshadowing, remember to include a climax, etc, etc. I think you can learn all the formulas, I think you can memorize all the tricks, follow all of the advice (which is often conflicting) to the letter, and still come out with a craptastic story. Nothing, no course, no book, no magazine, can write the story for you, and it is you that this whole thing ultimately comes down to.

For example.

I have read numerous stories where the character was described as being funny and charming, only to find no evidence that this character was either of those things. No one can teach you to be funny. No one can teach you to write a character that is charming. There are no formulas for creating believable human emotion.

You need to know how to observe the world and apply that in the written word. You need to know how to take the complexities of human life and emotion and completely recreate it simply by putting words together. You need to know how to create believable characters in believable situations even in the most unbelievable of circumstances.

Do I think anyone can be a writer? Yeah, sure. I think technically anyone can. I do not believe, however, that everyone who considers themselves a writer or who wants to be a writer can master dialogue, plot, characterization (etc) all at once in a way that can sustain the test of time. I think people can be taught to write, but I don’t think anyone can be taught to be a great writer.

I don’t think that the best writers are those who learn to do well what everyone else is doing, I think the best writers are those who do what no one else has done.


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