legoline: (Little Women Write From Depths Of Soul b)
legoline ([personal profile] legoline) wrote on February 10th, 2007 at 02:05 pm
"Fool", said my Muse to me, "Look in thy heart and write!"
Yesterday I was discussing the matter of writing with Noxie, and a question came up that I haven't yet been able to answer, so I'd like to put it here for discussion. Dear flist, if you will :-)

So, we all know that writing requires practise, practise and practise. That writing can be learned to a certain extent - which is what I've been wondering.

To what extent can writing actually be learned?

There's thousands of books as to how to learn writing, how to improve your style. Many of them helpful I guess (I really need to get my hands on "Writing Down Your Bones"). But what if you practise and practise and at the end of the day realise you're maybe just missing "it", that spark, a feeling for words and language?

Maybe you can tell stories alright, and maybe you have good insight into characters - but is that enough? Doesn't good writing require more than that? Does writing consist of more than that? Or can you still be a good writer if your style isn't witty and full of beautiful metaphors, as long as you keep your characters authentic? Or would that feel too much like reading a script?

Are combinations like that possible? Can writing be important to someone (I mean "important", not "I write for lack of better hobbies") who lacks that... spark?

I really hope this makes sense to someone out there :-)

Discuss. :-)
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