Is writing a skill?

cwilliard · Dec 6, 2005

A friend and I were discussing whether or not writing was a skill. He said it wasn’t because anyone can write. My response was, true anyone can write but not everyone can write well. I’m not saying that I’m close to being even a decent writer, but I just feel that it takes more skill, dedication and ability than people realize.

Any thoughts on whether there is such a thing as a natural born ability to write, or is it just a trait that anyone can learn?

Unique · Dec 6, 2005

Is This a Trick Question?

>''<

I think it's more a question of: Will they? rather than Can they?

PeeDee · Dec 6, 2005

Of course it's a skill. Yeah, anyone can write. I mean, you get the fine folk who are sick of working their jobs and say, "I can't wait to retire, settle down on a beach somewhere, maybe write a book." I laugh at those fine folk, and I await the day.

I mean, sure anyone can write...anyone can hit a keyboard. Somewhere, there's an infinite number of chimpanzees writing Shakespear. It would take those chimpanzees an even longer amount of time to write an original work of fiction which would move you, the audience, and stir you to emotion. That's where writing skill comes in. You learn your basic tools, your grammar and your sentences, your spelling...but what makes it a skill is learning to write a story that makes people feel. It doesn't matter if you stir horror, guilt, love, happiness...you're making them feel something using the same words that another person could use to write a grocery list, or a credit card offer. That's a skill.

What I've always found personally amusing (in a bitter* sort of way) is that no one denies that a magician on a stage is practicing his trade, making use of his skill, to do his job...but if you're an artist or a writer, you're just a hippy-beetnic college kid who's dancing around getting a real job.

Crazy ol' world, eh?

* I'm not actually bitter. Honest.

aghast · Dec 6, 2005

Anyone could use a hammer, but is carpentry a skill? Get a grip.

PeeDee · Dec 6, 2005

On the hammer? :Clap:

brokenfingers · Dec 6, 2005

I think that's the typical attitude of people who haven't actually tried it.

I know that was my belief when I first started out. When I first decided to write a book, I thought it was just a matter of sitting still for a few weeks and banging it out, sending it to a publisher and then sitting back and waiting to collect the check. The average Joe doesnt realize everything involved in writing saleable work.

It was only once I'd actually delved in that I finally saw the enormity of what I was attempting.

I'm still kicking myself over it.

SusanR · Dec 6, 2005

The navy has this incredible, billion-dollar nuclear submarine thingie, and it won't go. Their top engineers can't make it go. So they call in a civilian in desperation. "Make it go," they plead.

So the civilian expert walks through the sub, sniffing the air here, sticking his head in circuits there. Finally, he takes out a hammer and taps a pipe. The sub starts up, and from then on, works fine.

The expert submits his bill to the Navy. "$500,000 for fixing nuclear sub" it reads. Furious, the Navy lets him know they think his fee is outrageous. He just tapped with a hammer, right? So they tell him to submit an itemized bill.

Which he does:

"For tapping with hammer: $1.00.
For knowing where to tap: $499,000."

Writing---anyone can do it. Writing well? Priceless.

SusanR

PeeDee · Dec 6, 2005

Abso-fraggin-lutely brilliant, Susan. Hah!

James D. Macdonald · Dec 6, 2005

Of course it's a skill. Not only is it a skill, but it's a skill that can be taught, and one that can be learned and one that needs to be practiced in order to improve.

Think of playing the piano. Some folks have greater talent than others, but that talent comes to nothing without learning the skills and the techniques.

Birol · Dec 6, 2005

Of course it is a skill.

SpookyWriter · Dec 6, 2005

Skill, talent, and imagination. The ability to imagine and create a story takes talent, but putting the words on paper correctly takes skill. The mechanics of writing isn't just subject verb object. There is an underlying structure to writing and doing so that the story is not only entertaining, but coherent. Anyone can build a house given the proper tools and materials, but how well the house is built and will it be livable, takes skill.

Jon

Kasey Mackenzie · Dec 6, 2005

I agree. Definitely a skill. One which, like most others, many people can be taught to do adequately, some competently, and some even well or magnificently. Of course, not everyone can learn to do it well. Just depends upon the person and what they put into it. And, like most other skills, some people do have a natural knack for it. That doesn't mean they won't have to work hard at it to become truly skilled, however.

underthecity · Dec 6, 2005

Following Uncle Jim's piano example, anyone can strike keys on a piano. But is it music?

Anyone can paint picture of a lady. But is it art? Is it the Mona Lisa?

Anyone can write. But is it good? Is it writing that can move a reader to tears, or cause him to change his viewpoint on an issue, or introduce him to new concepts and ideas?

You can see thousands of blogs and amateur sites all over the web. Sure anyone can write. The web proves that. But it takes a practiced skill to make it good, and a developed talent to make it sizzle.

allen

MadScientistMatt · Dec 6, 2005

I think the trouble is that it's hard for many people to tell on their own if their writing sucks. With many other sorts of art, it's relatively easy to see if you are doing something badly. Paint a picture badly, and you'll know if it doesn't look like your subject (Regretably, modern art sometimes lacks this criterion for knowing you're bad at it.). Play music badly, and you'll know when you've missed a note.

Bad writing is harder for the writer to judge. It's hard to tell if something is unclear if you already know what it means, or know if other readers will find your story boring if you're certain it's interesting.

PeeDee · Dec 6, 2005

Bad writing is harder for the writer to judge.

If you're a cliched writer, then everything you write is obviously crap, since you are obviously a hack. So there's that....

(I mean you in general, not you in particular.

SpookyWriter · Dec 6, 2005

Take the test and if you pass within the top 85 percentile then you move on to the next level. Many writers have a difficult time with structure. Here's a chance to keep your skills up to par while having some fun learning (again).

Jon

Jaycinth · Dec 6, 2005

You can take everyone on these boards and give them a violin and teach them to read music and play the violin. With a dedicated teacher and two hours of practice a day, two years down the road everyone of us will be able to play a violin. But only one or two of us will ever have the clarity of soul to make the violin talk...to make people cry with emotion when the violin is played.

Everyone is taught to write as part of their education. Only an infintessimal portion of those taught to write will ever want to write more than a few e-mails and letters. And only a much smaller percentage of those will ever practice their writing until they write something that makes people say "OMG, I WANT to read more!"

Writing is an art, but it is so much more, too.

Jamesaritchie · Dec 6, 2005

Skill

Writing is a skill, but like any other skill, the more talent you have for it, the better you can get at it. Running is also a skill, but how many people can run the mile in under four minutes?

You can teach people to run, but there aren't more than a handful of people in the world who will ever break the four minute mile, no matter how hard they try, and no matter who coaches them.

Skill without talent means mediocrity in any field.

Talent can't be taught. You can develop whatever talent a person has to the fullest extent, but if the talent isn't there, there's nothing to develop.

Celia Cyanide · Dec 6, 2005

cwilliard said:
A friend and I were discussing whether or not writing was a skill. He said it wasn’t because anyone can write.

Anybody could write, but anybody could work hard enough to go to school to be a doctor or lawyer. The truth is, only certain people choose to spend their time that way. It's the same with writing. I wouldn't say that what doctors and lawyers do are not skills, just because anybody could potentially do them.

Of course, you can make the arguement that doctors and lawyers have something that not everyone has, because some people are not smart enough to go to school. But some people are illiterate, and can't write, either.

zeprosnepsid · Dec 6, 2005

MadScientistMatt said:
I think the trouble is that it's hard for many people to tell on their own if their writing sucks.

This reminds me of those American idol auditions -- how do those people not know they are bad? Everyone with vocal chords can sing, but not all of them can sing well. But some people just don't know they sing badly. It's amazing. Obviously, it's the same with writing.

johnnysannie · Dec 6, 2005

Writing is a skill but there are those who have a natural gift for words and those who do not.

Anyone can write. Not everyone can become a writer.

There have many fine examples in the thread but here's one more for good measure.

Any one can bake a cake, right? Some use Betty Crocker, others use a recipe from a cookbook and then a competent few can put together a cake that rises, is tasty, is tender without using a recipe because they have a knack for cookery (and an innate understanding of the basic ingredients needed for a cake, i.e. flour, sugar, leavener, fat).

Jamesaritchie · Dec 6, 2005

James D. Macdonald said:
Of course it's a skill. Not only is it a skill, but it's a skill that can be taught, and one that can be learned and one that needs to be practiced in order to improve.

Think of playing the piano. Some folks have greater talent than others, but that talent comes to nothing without learning the skills and the techniques.

Yes, but I also think the skill and the technique comes to nothing without the talent, and not everyone has enough talent to get the job done.

I suspect writing, and least fiction writing, is far closer to singing than to playing the piano. There are many, many people who simply can't hear what's coming out of their own mouth, and all the teaching and work in the world will never make them great singers.

And I've seen far too many writers who never could learn how to write well, despite having many years of the best instruction money could buy, and despite writing intensely day in and day out for year. Even for decades.

You can teach anyone to write a sentence, and you can teach anyone to write a story, but you can't teach talent, and if the talent is missing, the skill becomes meaningless.

zeprosnepsid · Dec 6, 2005

Jamesaritchie said:
You can teach anyone to write a sentence, and you can teach anyone to write a story, but you can't teach talent, and if the talent is missing, the skill becomes meaningless.

Not to hijack, but here's a question -- Who do you think is more likely to get published -- someone with great skill and no talent or someone with great talent and no skill?

NeuroFizz · Dec 6, 2005

Skill? Yes. I agree with all here. How does talent fit in? Two ways. It relates to the steepness of the learning curve. For some people, the curve is so shallow they may never produce quality prose. Others can find that special voice on their first try. The second way? The overall height of the curve, where it levels off, however this one can be pushed up with practice and experience as well, and it can slip a bit with disuse.

Old Hack · Dec 6, 2005

Of course it is skill. No denying that. Talent is also involved.

Someone on AW recently posted a link to an article which would be very interesting here, but I can't remember where the post was made!

The article linked to discussed how one has to have a certain level of competence in a subject before one can understand how bad one is at it. So a complete beginner will "know" that they can write a book and simply can't see why their writing is bad, whereas someone who has spent some time studying writing will be able to notice why their work is weak and where, and how, to improve it. I wish I could remember where that link was! Anyone?

Is writing a skill?

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