Traits
When I was 22 and in my first writers' group, I considered, in order of importance (from most important to least) these to be the most essential characteristics of a writer:
Talent
Intelligence
Imagination
Life experiences
Intellectual curiosity
Work ethic
Because I was not particularly interested in being published, what didn't make the list were any traits like persistence, or self-belief. I wrote. I sometimes shared. That was it.
When I was 32 and just starting to get published, I had a whole new perspective. I would have ranked the traits as:
Imagination
Talent
Work ethic
Life experiences
Intellectual curiosity
Persistence
Twenty+ books later, it's a whole new world in how I view it. Here we go today:
Openness (to growth and learning)
Humility (goes hand in hand with number one)
Drive (replace work ethic, but similar--the reason I call it drive is my work ethic is dictated sometimes by a Demon Baby and motherhood of 4)
Talent
Intellectual curiosity
Flexibility
Persistence
I see now that growth comes from humility, which comes from working at it enough so that you have something to work ON as you learn . . . .
Some of this stuff can't truly be quantified or ranked. But my views have definitely changed. I used to think I could peg the people who wouldn't make it by their lack of drive. Now I can see that you can be as driven as you want, but if you don't stop for teachable moments, you're just trying to drive a piece of useless machinery.
I also know a LOT of people rank talent way lower on the food chain and feel persistence makes up for that. I don't. I have read too much stuff, much of it bad, to not realize talent is part of equation. Note that I don't think it means you have to be the next Hemingway. Just a servicable amount of talent is fine. The more, the better . . . but it's an ingredient.
So . . . how do you rank 'em today? And if you want . . . share how your rankings have changed over the years?
21 comments:
Oo, firsties.
And first, I hope your girl is feeling better!
For me right now curiosity is most important. I think I have some talent, I know I have drive, and I know I can write serviceable, not poetic, prose. But my curiosity about people, craft, the industry, about economics and relationships and faith and the world... that's what's making me tick right now.
My progression would look almost exactly like yours ...
I used to think talent trumped all, that you could be a drunken and undisciplined fool but if you had talent it didn't matter. And I suppose there are some extraordinary writers in history who fit that description and did one amazing book.
But now, I definitely think that being open to process, to criticism, is THE most important trait. It's also been the hardest for me to learn. But I'm a little bit grateful every time I feel a lesson sink home and promise myself to start working on it.
Because I can never get more talented, but I can become a better writer.
I definitely am feeling a mixture of all three-- I think I go with:
1. Imagination
2. Openness to learning/ opportunities
3. Talent
4. Persistence
5. Courage to take risks
Although, number two is very much connected to number five. I find that as long as I stay open, I have the courage that I need. I never really thought that being open to critique and learning would breed strength of courage--I would have thought that being open would make me more vulnerable. But not so, surprisingly.
Starbuck:
I think curiosity is so important. When I speak at schools, that's what I tell kids. "Don't just listen to what the teacher says. Don't be a spoon-fed learner. go find out on your own--if you're interested in something, exhaust it . . . go for it."
E
Jon:
I had the good fortune of being in a writers' group with the most talented man I have ever met when I was 22. The MOST talented. And so I really thought talent trumped all.
Because of different circumstances, including mental health issues, he did not pursue publication. So I saw other things as part of the equation.
And I saw moderately talented people make it because of drive.
But I have seen more writers stymied by lack of progress. They are not open . . . they remain on a hamster wheel.
I am grateful for what I've learned along the way.
E
Heather:
Ahh . . . courage. I left that off, but YES . . . an important one. I remember when writer Andrew Vachss encouraged me to try to get my poetry published. Sending off the first one took courage to put it in the mailbox. After that . . . it got easier. And I got a few published!
:-)
E
...just trying to drive a piece of useless machinery.
Love that analogy.
I think it has to start with at least a wee bit of talent. Not that it's the most important ingredient for success, but without some sort of innate ability to process thoughts into words on a page, into language, the other elements you mentioned are fairly useless. Talent is the seed.
Jude:
I know some like to argue no talent is involved, but if you have ever swam through slush, you know that is not true.
E
Knowing how to learn would be at the top of my list. Always was, but I started writing after I was a good teacher. I should qualify that: knowing how to learn as a young child learns, before our adult insecurities and fears and such muck things up. If I weren't the teacher I am, I don't think I could've been a writer at all. I've seen almost everything people do to undermine their own learning and progress.
Learning like that is openness. I don't write well in a humble state of mind, although it's generally where I'm at. I'm trying to work on being more cocky. I like the writing of writers who write with kick-ass arrogant confidence, too. I think that's the number-one thing I need to work on right now, actually.
I think that's a pretty good list. I'd have to really sit down to think it through to show how mine have changed over the years and I'm on deadline, so maybe later. But I think "drive" is very definitely high on the list. I'd still put persistence pretty high and talent pretty low. I think talent is a pretty cheap commodity, but I have run across some people who don't seem to have any (or enough, which is a harder thing).
I'd also put "openness" higher now than I would have 20 years ago. Not just learning to take criticism, but being open to life experiences and learning from reading, and other things you can apply to your writing.
I heard an interview with a writer who didn't get published until his 30s and when he was asked why he said he didn't think he'd had enough life experiences in his 20s, and he also didn't know enough in his 20s to value the reader's time like he did as he got older. I think that last part is fascinating, because I know I'm very conscious these days of what you're asking a reader to do that maybe I wasn't when I was younger. And that applies to my nonfiction as well.
I think if you have an extraordinary amount of any single element you listed, the others can fall behind.
Natasha:
It takes guts to be a f/t writer (or heck, even a part-time writer). So I know what you mean. I think this is an area where a healthy medium is the best.
E
Mark:
Like Lurker Monkey, and like my post, I used to think talent trumped all. Now I think it falls in the middle somewhere. But it definitely carries weight.
E
Stephen:
I agree with that. I think we all know writers who have gotten ahead with WAY less talent and a LOT more drive. And we all know talented writers--really talented writers--who don't pursue it. I guess it lies in the balance, but definitely one really outsized trait can dwarf the others and still have the person make it.
E
This is going to be embarrassing to admit. Five years ago this was all:
1. The ability to finish the book.
That was it, just write a book, not even a trait, but a goal.
So my list would look like:
1. Imagination/Daydream-- can't write if you don't have any ideas to write.
2. Discipline--you have to get the story down on the page
3. Humility-- have to let the story be what it's supposed to be i.e. you have to step out of the way.
4. Talent--either a natural storyteller or natural at being able to see the story as a whole and as parts.
5. Practicality--you have to be able to step back from the art and see the business side.
6. Experience
The last one's importance is definitely in the eye of the beholder. It's last on my list because if you are alive you get this by proxy. The others you have to actively work at.
Melissa:
Phenomenal list.
I think my first novel was definitely "finish." That was it. Though it was definitely servicable, even by my standards today. I sold my second completed novel. I had two middle attempts--neither of which I finished. For one of them, it was for good reason . . . it wasn't very good. The other was pretty good, but I was having some issues with the hero in the post-9/11 world.
E
Persistence
Life experiences
Imagination
Talent
Intellectual curiosity
work ethic
I'm not sue I wouldn't combine a couple of those. Ironically it would be persistence and work ethic. I think they go hand in hand. Imagination can't build on nothing and the something is life experiences. Talent is beyond me and intellectual curiosity doesn't feature in my fiction. Yeah, it's based on research but the real story isn't about eminent domain, it's the effect of this stress within the family unit.
LurkerMonkey said: "I used to think talent trumped all, that you could be a drunken and undisciplined fool but if you had talent it didn't matter."
No, that's rock musicians! LOL
Hi Richmond:
I agree. The traits can be overlapped and it largely depends on how you define certain ones. For example, "work ethic" and "drive." Like I said, I don't have a disciplined work ethic because as a mom, my kids will always come first. So it may not LOOK like a work ethic . . . but it's there in my drive.
E
FF:
LOL! True enough. Which is why Demon Baby wants to be a rock star.
E
I used to think talent was all that mattered. Now I think that openness (to ideas and learning), creativity (as in the ability to look at things differently and to see the story),and hard work lead talent.
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