Writing Skill Versus Writing Talent
Can you make it with skill alone?
A reader commented on one of my posts recently correcting my judgment that reading is a skill. “It is not a skill darling, it’s a talent.” I’m paraphrasing, there were no terms of endearment involved.
You do need talent.
And talent can be nurtured. Perhaps some come out of the womb possessing a way with words to galvanize the reader to keep reading. I recently finished Patti Smith’s Just Kids, and I think she fits into this category.
Writing is a talent.
And it is also a skill.
There is talent in accepting honest feedback from a good editor. There’s talent in sculpting your craft, writing style and voice. There is talent in editing — rewriting — and scrapping the boring stuff that doesn’t serve the story.
All of which can be learned. Many people are born with a natural aptitude to learn how to write well.
If you can learn it, it’s a skill.
You can learn to be an exceptional writer. Anyone motivated can learn to write well.
That is not to say it’s easy.
Sticking with it through the work part is not easy. It is hard to write well but gets easier with practice.
If you think your writing is bad, guess what, all writers start out writing poorly. Great writers get great through a lot of writing. They grew into the famous writer part.
According to the dictionary, the definition of ‘skill’ is the ability to do something well. With enough practice, the majority of those who write will eventually write well.
I’m a better writer than I was at five. I’m a better writer than I was at 16. I’m a better writer than I was at 25. I’m a better writer than I was eight months ago.
According to Seth Godin’s blog,
“The thing is, almost everything that matters is a skill. If even one person is able to learn it, if even one person is able to use effort and training to get good at something, it’s a skill.
It’s entirely possible that some skills are easier for talented people to learn. It’s entirely possible you don’t want to spend the energy and dedicate the effort to learn that next skill.”
It would be interesting to know how many famous writers were told early on in their careers, “Don’t quit your day job. You aren’t a writer.”
This morning, I listened to Tim Ferriss (show #427) speak with guest Michael Lewis, author of the books The Big Short, Moneyball, and The Blindside — all eventually made into films. He was given the advice to hang up his pen because he “wasn’t a writer” — more than once.
He kept writing anyway.
I went to Quora to find more opinions on writing as a skill versus writing as a talent.
Here is one of the best answers written by Joanne Friedman, author of four books,
Writing is a skill and a talent. Good writing is akin to good music, and good writers have an “ear” that allows them to hear the rhythms of the words and the flow of the thoughts and lay them out, so the reader is entranced.
Most believe writing is a skill.
Eileen M. Gormley writes,
Yes. It’s a skill like any other.
Yes, there are people with a talent for telling a story, and those people may find it easier to master the skills involved, but it still takes work. No one writes a best seller without working at it.
And, Mark Jordan writes,
It’s probably a bit of both, but mostly a skill that can be learned. If you read a lot and see how good writers express themselves and practice your own writing, you will get better at it, just as you do with almost any other skill.
Writing is similar to the game chess. Some are born with the ability to see an infinite number of possible chess moves more quickly than others. But it takes skill, even for those born with the talent to play chess, they need skill to master it.
The rest of us not born with an innate ability to play chess can get better with the right coach, mindset, and persistence.
If you want to be a better writer, and eventually master writing, here are five things to start doing now.
#1. Write — Your cumulative output matters more than any single thing you write. The secret to becoming a better writer is to become a prolific one.
To become a better writer aim for quality in your writing, plus quantity, which ensures you will improve over time.
#2. Find authors who speak to you — You love their voice, writing style, tone, humor, sentence structure.
Don’t just read them frequently but also type out their words, sentences, whole paragraphs, and pages onto a document. Not to pass off as your own, that is plagiarism, but to get a deeper understanding of their words and structure.
#3. Read books on how to write better — The Elements of Style by William Strunk Jr. will help you become a better writer. It will teach you what to leave in and what to edit out. It’s a classic and a staple for many writers today.
When it was first published, it was a mere 43 pages, a summation for “cleanliness, accuracy, and brevity in the use of English.” It is a must for a writer at any stage of their writing career.
Keep it on your writing desk to refer to often.
Another book, Writing with Clarity and Style by Robert A. Harris, will help you hone your style and voice. After I’ve written an essay, I flip through his book and see if there is anything I can improve on to make my writing more clear and concise with style.
Honing your style and voice is crucial to stand out.
#4. Find an editor who won’t bullshit you — The biggest gift for a writer is to find an editor who will be honest with you about what is not working.
Someone who can point out your writing vices; when you write lazily, talk down to your audience, or use words that serve no purpose but to make you sound smart. Adding an unusual word — just to sound like you know many big words — in place of a more common one makes you sound like a fraud, don’t do that, your audience won’t like it.
A good editor who takes out the red pen and makes your story bleed is one of the best ways to learn the craft, so choose your editor wisely.
Finding the right editor who fits you is similar to finding the right therapist. It’s trial and error; not everyone meshes well.
#5. Get familiar with the phrase good writing is rewriting — I’m not referring to correcting spelling and grammatical errors — although essential — that is the easy stuff.
Rewriting is moving sentences around, rewriting for clarity and flow, taking out the extra stuff that isn’t adding to your story — it’s resculpting, chiseling, and reworking. Editing is part of the process of writing. You can’t be a great writer without editing.
Whether you have a talent or just a skill, you can become a great writer.
Write on.
Jessica is a writer, an online entrepreneur, and a recovering perfectionist. She lives in Los Angeles with her extrovert daughter, two dogs, and two cats.
