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How do you know you are a good writer?



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Thu Aug 30, 2012 6:44 pm
klara1882 says...



I want to know how does one know if her/his work is worth reading?

How do I know if I have a talent and how do I improve?
But they all didn’t see the little bit of sadness in me.
  





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Thu Aug 30, 2012 8:33 pm
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Rosendorn says...



I want to know how does one know if her/his work is worth reading?

You give it to other people and see if they like it. If not, you find out what they didn't like and fix it. If they find your execution poor but love your idea, you work on your execution. If they find your idea needs some fleshing out, then you start putting more depth into the idea (usually through research or putting more of your own unique twist on the story).

In the end, every single idea has promise. It's whether or not that promise is fulfilled.

How do I know if I have a talent

I tend not to believe in this thing called "talent." Talent is simply hard work continued over time. While some people seem to be "naturals", you can learn anything with enough work. What determines if you learn it is how much work you're willing to put into your skills.

how do I improve?

You write. You critique. You read. You pick apart what you read by asking yourself what you liked and didn't; what the author nailed and what they could improve on and how you'd improve it. You get critiques on your work and follow the reviewer's advice, asking them to clarify what they mean if you require clarification.
A writer is a world trapped in a person— Victor Hugo

Ink is blood. Paper is bandages. The wounded press books to their heart to know they're not alone.
  





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Fri Aug 31, 2012 4:57 am
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RacheDrache says...



Rosen gave you some very good answers to your questions. Not going to attempt to improve on them. I'd only really just say the same thing in my own way, which inevitably would take five times as long and involve strange food metaphors.

So instead, I'm going to say that wondering if you're a good writer is, in the end, a bit pointless. Writers who think they are good writers, talented, fully capable, clearly better than all the others, and actually believe this… are rarely good writers. A lot of terribly fantastic writers, on the other hand, were convinced, no matter how secretly, that they were terrible. They fretted, they crumpled, they backspaced, they agonized.

This complicates the notion of how to know when you are a good writer.

Another complicating factor is how to decide what makes a good writer. Is a good writer one who sells well? One who inspires? One who uses complicated imagery?. An intricate syntax? One who's very popular? One who people still read hundreds of years later? One who rebelled against the sociopolitical circumstances of the times? One who gave the fans exactly what they thought they wanted?

There was this girl in my high school English class. Every time her writing was used as an example, my other classmates would gush about how pretty her writing was, about how good it was. I was always a bit resentful here. My papers always got better grades than hers – even A's from the teacher who never gave A's-- but if you asked my classmates, she was our best writer. Who was the better writer, me or her? Impossible to say.

Then there's this tricky issue of how trying to be good almost always makes for bad writing. The more I try to write awesomely, the less awesome my writing tends to get. It's kind of like how animals can sense fear. Any anxiety you feel as a writer (about being awesome, the next big thing, or just simply good) is sensed by the writing in question. Everything comes out stilted, clichéd, dull, tense. And the reader feels that and goes to read something else.

Overconfident, arrogant writers face the same problem. Writing and readers can feel that overconfidence, assess it for what it is, and go read something else.

So, you see, this whole question of "good" really leads to far more trouble than it's worth. As does the "talent" question, for similar reasons.

I do however, have some good news. Your "how do I improve?" question is an excellent one. Room for improvement is one of the only guarantees in this business. Figuring out ways to make your characterization more poignant, your plot more devious, your theme deeper, your dialogue sharper, your syntax more efficient, your punctuation more effective, your storytelling more succinct – that's the life of a writer, if you ask me.
I don't fangirl. I fandragon.

Have you thanked a teacher lately? You should. Their bladder control alone is legend.
  





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Fri Aug 31, 2012 2:19 pm
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Tenyo says...



Talent is an interesting question.

I think mostly talent comes from what's inside you. The thing with art is that it's all about expression. Some people find it easier to express themselves through dance and movement, some through singing or through an instrument, and each art has its own intricacies of how it works.

I always find that a lot of the most talented writers I know are also the most passionate I know. Passion isn't just the desperate wanting to write something really well, because you could say the same thing about anything. You wouldn't want to play a ball game without wanting to do well.

If you find a natural instinct inside you to sit for hours painstakingly weeding through a piece of work, cutting and pruning and fertilising (excuse the metaphor) just so that you can hear that beautiful ring in your mind when you know it's right, then that's passion. It's waking up in the middle of the night because you *have* to write that story. It's wanting to practice every day in order to hone your craft even if it means getting beaten and bruised by your critiquers, and the obsession to find that perfect expression. It also means losing yourself in a piece of work, smiling quietly to yourself when while waiting in the lunch queue you think 'my character would love to try that' and trying not to cry when your own imagination breaks your heart.

It doesn't matter if your work is worth reading or not, what matters is if it's worth writiing, and passion is always worth the effort.

If you strive for talent you'll always fall short of glory, partly because there will always be someone who says you suck, and partly because talent is a label people give you, not a label you own. It's the passion that matters. If you aim for talent you'll get neither talent or passion, but if you indulge in your passion then you'll get both.
We were born to be amazing.
  








"You're wrong about humanity. They are your greatest creation because they're better than you are. Sure, they're weak, and they cheat and steal and destroy and disappoint, but they also give and create, and they sing and dance and love. Above all, they never give up."
— Metatron