Do you believe writing can be taught?

Question

You can teach a person the rules of grammar and rhetoric but that is not what makes a great author's work come to life.

To what extent do you believe that great writing is a gift or is it taught, or perhaps self-taught, the way Van Gogh taught himself to paint what he saw.

Are the great writers gifted with the skill of word craft or do you believe they learned it by reading others?

Also to what extent do you think a persons life-experience plays in the quality of work or the style in which the work is presented?

Answer 1

I looked up your Question after reading your answer about wholeness.

I am just learning to write. It has only been a couple of years for me, and I have only finished a handful of works. I am unpublished, so I do not speak from an authoritative point of view. Have only my own experience to share.

I learned by reading. The more I understood the tools and tricks of other authors, the easier it became for me to work out my ideas for the page. I suppose what I am saying is that there is a craft to writing that can be taught.

There is also an art to it. Art can not be taught, but the means of pursuing one’s own gift can be. Writing is, after all, merely thinking. Our thoughts can’t be given to us, but the means of ordering and expressing them can be improved.

I hope this is of some use to you, and I am pleased to meet you. Good luck with your writing and your life of simple awareness.

Answer 2

I have written two books. The secret of writing is in the power of imagination coupled with the use of correct grammar. Naturally it depends on the type of writing. My books were adventure stories about state sponsored assassins and at the time of writing the ideas just flowed. Sometimes I would sit and write twenty or thirty pages at a time. Other occasions might produce just a few sentences and there were even periods of a month or more when I didn't write anything. My main aspiration was to write in such a wayas to let the reader see what it was I saw, otherwise they would not get the point, at least not the way I did. I created characters with whom, my readers could easily identify by giving them personalities of their own and mannerisms of speech, dress and conduct. I used much descriptive prose so that I could convey what I wanted the reader to see. My writing style evolved over a period of years, partly from reading many, many books of all types. By learning from them and useing my own vivid imagination I developed my own personal style.

For example here is a paragraph from my second book, chosen at random. See what you think.

"He had been devastated by the way he had been caught and was presented with a stark choice. He could either be convicted, and with the evidence collected he surely would be, and subsequently spend several years in prison, or he could turn his talents to the good and work for the little man, whose name was Mr. John Watson, a high ranking official of The Ministry of Affairs. On learning more about the Ministry, and considering the alternative, he had accepted the strange offer and had worked for Mr. Watson ever since, completely renouncing his old ways. Eventually he had been offered the position of an Operative, an assassin, a position which at first had filled him with loathing. Once he had been fully trained, however, and seen the effects of the crimes his potential victims, or Targets as they were known, had committed, he had changed his opinion and undertaken his job with a gusto that had seen him complete many successful missions. Due to his success and vast knowledge of Confidence Trickery, he had also been asked to instruct new recruits at The Ministry's training centre, Rydale, hidden deep in the beautiful Lancashire countryside."

Answer 3

The inclination to write depends on a lot of things. I did a study of the childhoods of several writers and this is what I found in common:

1. A love of reading instilled by their parents.
2. A tendency to daydream.
3. In most cases, a lack of money.
4. A reason (such as lack of money or loneliness) that they got serious about writing.
5. Discipline.

As you said, rules of grammar can be taught. The desire to write and a good reason to write and the discipline cannot.

Answer 4

Muhammad is the Prophet who started the faith of Islam. He did no longer start up the worship of God, of direction; that became into occurring already. most of the bills interior the Koran are an analogous or akin to bills interior the Bible, however the Koran and the Bible are distinctive. while there's a disagreement between them, tThe Koran became into produced lengthy after the Hebrew Scriptures the recent testomony. by way of fact the words of their fabulous Prophet, Mohammed, Muslims supply the Koran priority.

Answer 5

I don't think so. Well yea, maybe grammar and wording while a person is younger. But the skill comes from the person itself and from reading books all their life too! :-)

Answer 6

Sounds like someone's essay question/homework assignment.