by Sassafras

Created on: May 28, 2008

Are you born with writing talent, or can you develop it, with practice?

In my own experience, I think good writing takes a combination of both ability and experience; but just plain hard work is the main ingredient, as unromantic as that may sound. The much-quoted aphorism "Genius is 1% inspiration and 99% perspiration" can be applied to writing also.

As for me, I've frittered away a lot of years prostrate on the couch, waiting for the writing muse to descend and tickle my forehead with her magic wand. Now that I'm older and wiser, I no longer believe it works that way. After all, even writers rated great by literary scholars (if not by all readers)such as Shakespeare, Dickens, Twain, Austen, the Brontes, Hemingway, Woolf, Oates, Dostoevsky, Wolfe, Chekhov, Fuentes, etc., etc., etc.)were compelled to sit down on a regular basis with paper and writing tool, or typewriter, or word processor, and fill with words that daunting white blank glaring back at them.

Like a lot of aspiring writers, I collected "how to write" books over the years. Every one of them contained excellent advice, and I've learned a lot about the writer's mind through studying them. But I could probably have gotten more written without all the literary pep talk. After all, each writer must find his own style, voice, focus, writing regimen, and audience.

You must be clear on just why you are writing. Is it purely a commercial venture? Do you want to make a living at, say, freelance writing just to pay the bills? Are you interested in churning out a formula book every three to six months, and making a steady income? Do you want to write bestsellers and get rich? Do you think you have something important to say that people should hear? Are you writing for informational purposes? Are you writing for a limited audience who will understand and appreciate you? Are you just writing for yourself? Is writing a form of posterity for you, something to leave behind that will keep you alive, like your descendants? Are you writing because you just have to, no matter what?

You may not find your focus right away. You may have to try your hand at all kinds of writingboth fiction and nonfictionbefore something feels right. Or more than one genre may appeal to you. One of my favorite authors, Paul Theroux, used to alternate writing nonfiction books on his travels with novels and short stories. The late Susan Sontag, after decades of writing essays, decided in middle age to try her hand at novels, and is now hooked

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