Kerouac begins with bombast: Writers are made, for anybody who isn't illiterate can write; but geniuses of the writing art like Melville, Whitman or Thoreau are born.
Good writers are taught, not born. At any level, one can be taught skills on becoming a good writer and improving their writing, maintaining them is what makes a good writer. A person has to believe that they can be a good writer first then the hard work comes next.
Genius authors are often thoughtful and attentive readers. Reading helps you enrich your own experience by seeing how other great writers put their thoughts on paper. You can barely become a good writer if you read one book a year. Read, read, read.
While anyone can be a writer, it takes a lot of work to become a good writer. You need to develop the characteristics of one, including strong language/vocabulary skills, discipline, and attention to detail. A love for reading and an openness to criticism are preferable for aspirational writers as well.
Having a high IQ won't make you a good writer. It may be a good advantage, but it is the fine balance between intelligence and learning that can give you the craft to form a good poem or pen a beautiful story. Writing is about the ability to express the thoughts, feelings, and ideas that are in your head.
Within the book publishing industry, it is agreed that the odds of an author getting their work published stands between 1% and 2%. Despite this low number, more than 95% of manuscripts received by publishers and agents are below the level the standard required.
Compared to the novice brains, the brains of the expert writers showed additional activity in the caudate nucleus, which is responsible for automatic functions, and the Broca's and Wernicke's areas, which deal with language and word formation.
The brain and writing
German researchers observed scans of writers writing their stories and found that a network of brain regions work in unison to create fiction stories (1). The brain activity of regular writers was similar to that of people skilled in complex actions such as musicians or athletes.
Writing is a natural talent
Thus, not everyone can learn to be a great writer if it's not in them. The argument here is that you can't truly learn to have the heart of a writer if you weren't born as one. Indeed, the ability to write is a gift, and not everyone has it.
Writers enjoy writing. Writing can be a gratifying experience for both authors and readers alike because it teaches you more about the world. It can shed light on new perspectives and helps create meaning in your life. Finding words to express thoughts and feelings is a powerful form of expression.
So many people believe that writing is a talent. Instead, it's a skill: Yes, it's easier for talented people to learn how to do it, but anyone who is motivated can learn. Read his entire post here — and, please, accept the notion that if you really want to learn to write, or to get better at it, you can.
Natural born writers catalog sensory data. They store details and emotional reactions and poignant bits of dialogue as events unfold around them.
writers are around eight times as likely to suffer from mental illness than those who don't pursue writing as a career, according to Kay Redfield Jamison, a psychology professor at Johns Hopkins who wrote Touched with Fire. Consider how this could impact you. …you may be more prone to depression and anxiety.
The researchers suggest that writing may help improve mental clarity by allowing people to better process information and organize their thoughts. Additionally, writing can be a helpful way to express emotions and relieve stress, which may also contribute to improved mental clarity.
If you aspire to be a great writer, you'll gain mastery of your craft, in part, by reading extensively. Aspiring authors who develop strong reading habits will learn a lot from the books they consume.
Some people are gifted in writing because they write naturally without much pain and effort. They don't need external push and never seem to face the dreaded writer's block. These qualities are enough for me to deem someone as a naturally good writer.
There are really naturally good writers who have picked up the skill much easier - but they still have to discipline themselves at learning and practice to achieve excellence.
The physical act of writing sends signals from your hands to your brain and builds your motor skills. The mental effort and time taken to write also helps in improving memory. In fact, writing also helps you build on your old thoughts.
There are different forms of writer's block. While for some, it means that they stop writing altogether. For others, it can be that they can no longer tap into their literary capital and feel like their pieces are no longer worthy of publishing.
In On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft, Stephen King explains why reading is so important for those who want to write. If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around those two things that I'm aware of, no shortcut.