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| Effort | 39% | 676 votes | Total: 1742 votes | |
| Insight | 61% | 1066 votes |
Effort
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Add to FavoritesGreat writers rely on effort to craft their final products. Insight is undoubtedly a valuable quality for a writer to possess, but it is useless if not complemented by effort.
Writing any type of piece takes dedication from the first word of the first draft, to rewrites and criticism, all the way through to the process of pitching it to a publisher. Indeed, good writing stems from an insight into the current state of the world. However, that insight must be molded carefully by hard work in order for it to be meaningful.
Good writers must also be good readers. In this sense, they are very observant of the work of others before ever picking up a pen. Taking the time out of a busy schedule to think about approaching a new writing task is essential. Natural talent is often abundant in people who are too lazy to work and improve upon themselves and their craft.
Even if someone manages to write an entire novel on insight alone, the work is far from over. Literature on the level of Shakespeare's will go unread if the writer fails to sell it. This process often involves hiring help and creating sales pitches for countless publishers. When rejection letters come pouring in, the author must put forth even more effort to make sure that his work is polished enough to be read by the world.
No work is perfect after the first draft, but it ultimately needs to reach that point in order for it to receive the attention it deserves. The words will not add, rearrange or delete themselves on the page; the writer must set aside time to analyze each word's placement in the piece. One hasty rewrite will not do. The writer must go through great pains to question the significance and fluidity of each sentence he writes.
It may be cliche to say that nothing in life comes without hard work, but it is true. There is no way insight alone can produce a great piece of any sort without effort to back it up. Although writing requires almost no physical effort, the writer does need to exert effort mentally in order to publish his writing.
A journalist selling freelance articles to newspapers and magazines must rely on perseverance just as much as a best-selling novelist cranking out a fourth book. Even earning an A on an English paper (graded by a respectable teacher, of course) involves plenty of thought and analysis along with a time commitment large enough to allow for careful, insightful writing.
The Irish playwright George Bernard Shaw knew of the effort involved in the writing process. He said, "When I was young, I observed that nine out of ten things I did were failures. So I did ten times more work."
Learn more about this author, Julie Kliegman.
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Insight
In the end, it is equal parts effort as well as insight that makes good writers, well, good. Which does the writer rely on more? In some ways it's really a matter of opinion. But, the fact still remains that, without insight, the effort these authors make will be in vain: ergo, their work is considered bad, as well as their skill as a writer. In other words: one compliments the other.
With the question of which a good writer relies on more, it all comes down to that age only question: which came first, the chicken or the egg? Many people believe many things. Besides that, though, the fact remains that effort, without insight, leads to nothing of quality. The same thing can go if we switch those virtues around. You can scrape from your muse for years, giving all the effort your body can give, but without effort, it will amount to nothing. Your story will be nothing but fluff; every sentence is a struggle for words or ideas, hanging on every word, like a snail trying to traverse a hurricane.
Without insight, your work becomes meaningless. Its all dead: no theme, moral, philosophy or any other sort of message. Your characters will be one dimensional, like paper boxes, because without insight into humans you cannot portray them accurately-no matter how hard you try. Or you will be of no help on the subject you are speaking on; showing you have no experience or understanding, which will do nothing but aggravate or hinder the people you are speaking to. Everything is effected, and your readers will view your story or book as superficial. The only way to give a lasting impression on a reader's mind is to make the story or book memorable, full of a good something that changes them or makes them think. Something that gives them a sense of excitement and/or appreciation.
Insight, as you probably understand by now, is the very inspiration that fuels good writers on to do what they do. A story or non-fiction book is often born of the will to convey or offer personal insight on a subject. Authors like C.S. Lewis crafted many of theirstories around a rebuttal or answer to moral issues. Again, you cannot address such issues, or add your thoughts to them, without first gaining insight into them; which in turn allows you to determine how to write about them.
Effort is definitely something a writer needs to be good. But good writers rely more on insight, as it allows all that effort to amount to something. With insight, a story or book has substance.
Learn more about this author, Joshua Peacock.
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