Sophie: you’re already doing the first essential thing necessary for eventual success, which is reading, reading, reading!! (Not to mention hanging around online with us writer types…) When you get to the stage of seeking your degree, you’ll be in good stead, and the rest will very likely come to you in due time.

To answer your question, I think that every writer is born with the talent, it just needs to be polished.

Now for my long answer.

Music and storytelling (often linked) existed long, long before technology. They’re deeply ingrained in the human soul and presumably coded somehow in the genome. Much of everyday conversation consists of storytelling. “My tire blew out on the highway during the thunderstorm.” “The boss wanted to fire me but I talked him out of it.” “I saw my high school best friend for the first time in 20 years.” etc.

I think there are several talents and personality traits involved in becoming a good writer who’s published, and the more of these you have the better your chances of success. Off the top of my head I would name persistence; belief in oneself despite what others say; the ability to tell good prose from bad; the ability to memorize grammar rules; a perspective on the world different from other people’s; a love of words and their sounds, histories, and connotations; knowledge (innate or learned) of story structure; an understanding (conscious or subconscious) that a story is about more than the story—it’s also about the storyteller, and the storyteller’s society, and human beings as a whole; and several kinds of creativity. Probably many more factors are involved.

Back when I worked at magazines, I knew working reporters who lacked many of the above abilities (and it’s clear in the newspapers I’ve read since that that problem infects the newspaper world too), yet had careers at respectable publications. I think the reporters who win Pulitzers, however, probably have most or all of those abilities.

And I wonder if that kernel needs only to be one of “creativity” or if there’s something distinct for each type of artistic activity…

What I’m trying to get at is this: if the ability isn’t already embedded somewhere in that writer’s make-up, can it be fabricated by even the most earnest wannabe? I don’t think it can.

You’re right: writing IS a craft, stories are assembled through sheer effort, and perseverance is crucial. I encourage every desirous writer-to-be to give it his or her best shot. But I have to disagree with you about “anyone” being able to become a decent writer–if by “decent” we’re talking publishable by a reputable lit mag/e-zine/publisher, etc. In my experience, some people lack the analytic ability necessary for creative story construction and/or the ability to see flaws in their work and others’.

Thanks for linking to our What Women Write blog. We’re big fans of you, too!

Julie

I haven’t given much serious thought to this question, but thinking about it now, I think writers can be made. Writing is a craft; stories are built; they have parts that can be put together, either well or poorly. I think it takes a great deal of perseverance to “build” a good story. And the result can be greatly enhanced by something ineffable – call it joy, or lyricism, or beauty; but I do think a decent, even remarkable, level of writing can be achieved by anyone who really tries and really wants to improve.

Bernie Brown

My debut novel THE HANDBOOK FOR LIGHTNING STRIKE SURVIVORS is being published by Shaye Areheart, a division of Random House, April 13th, and YES, I think we’re born writers, but like you, I think that the desire and need to write stories and create characters has to be nurtured through craft and the willingness to revise and learn from the writers who preceded us, as well as from our peers. Funny side note: As a second and third grader, my parents were always praising my short stories and poems, and lo and behold, but my mother later confessed, “We thought you were copying them out of books. We were humoring you. We didn’t actually think you were writing the things you were reading to us.” It’s so funny to me! But I’m glad they praised me. I needed that early validation whether it was the truth or not.