I found this beautiful shed at the edge of the wood in Hebden Bridge and it reminded me of the nature-nurture debate with regards to writing. Is good writing something you can cultivate or is it something that is either present in your nature or not?
5 comments:
You're making me miss Hebden!
Any story or relation of an event/piece of art etc has to be mediated. Therefore unavoidably involving some aspect of nurture. It also is then interpreted by the audience/listener and further involves more nurture. Maybe the natural aspect of it is the immediacy, or the urge to do such things. Like its a part of the human condition to communicate?
Thanks Jane.
Also, the relation of an event - whether fictional or factual - is still a 'relation' and thus an interpretation or mediation between the event itself and the listener/audience/reader.
You are right that, in the case of writing, the story is nurtured by the writer and then by various other interested parties e.g. the agent, editor etc. before it reaches the 'reader'.
So is the natural element the overwhelming desire to write, the inspiration behind the writing? Perhaps but then I have read some shoddy writing by people who claim to have this overwhelming desire.
So the ability to communicate effectively is the crux of the matter then? Being inspired to write may not produce good writing because the way it is being written is not effective? So I presume the development of this, or learning how to do this would help the process. Yet there are people who just seem to have the ability without this?
I think that they may have the ability to write well without this but they certainly do not have the means.
This doesn't imply that a writer must necessarily attend a creative writing class. We learn how to write well from reading good books, from taking an English class, from reading a well-articulated blog, from going to see a moving play.
Being able to communicate effectively is something we need to learn but yes, I agree, it seems to come easier to some than others.
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