Do you believe that writers are born, not made?

Philippines
May 9, 2009 1:33pm CST
Well, do you? Do you agree that writing cannot be taught and that a person cannot be made a writer unless he or she was born one? This bugs me a lot. I spend a lot of time thinking how odd writers are...how bizarre this group really is, and that somehow, if ever, I can consider myself one with them. Anyway,(sorry for the long and winding intro...) do you believe that writers are born, not made?
1 person likes this
14 responses
9 May 09
No, I believe that writers are made, and not born! There are certainly some people who have more natural creativity than others, but language is a learned skill. We're not born with it, we have to learn it. Consequently, writing is a learned skill. We may learn it at school, we may learn it by listening to people around us who express themselves beautifully or we may learn it by reading other writers' work. It may be hard to learn. It may be easy. Either way, we still learn it. There's a million ways to learn. A love of language, of new ideas, of expressing something... these are the things that come from our upbringing, not from a certain chromosome. My 2c.
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• Philippines
10 May 09
Oh I agree with you. Thanks for that. It's indeed true that people are not who they are today because they are like that since yesterday. And the belief that writers are made and not born can be a silver lining to anyone who thinks that they ain't just good enough to write because they aren't born to do so. In other words, a silver lining for me.
10 May 09
I'm sure there are some people who ARE born with a natural inclination to be more artistic, but I think they're extremely rare. In my family, most of us love languages - because my father loved them - and most of us love to read - because our parents did. One of my brothers is even a published author: but he's the LAST one we would have thought would do it. He learned because he wanted to, but he was generally the least academic of all of us. Now if that isn't inspiring, I don't know what is.
@zandi458 (28102)
• Malaysia
10 May 09
There are two categories of writers, one with natural flow or inborn talent and one that has strong passion for writing but lack know how. They are many talented writers in mylot and their writings are awe inspiring. Give them one word and they can manipulate the word to form a paragraph or something. These are the people who are storehouses of ideas in their brains. They can whip up any story any moment while those who have strong desire for writing but are not 'gifted' with the talent needs to undergo courses in writing before they can establish themselves as writers. I am really drawn to people who can write well and I have someone out there who can mesmerize me with his writings.
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@cuttyrish (2667)
• United States
9 May 09
In cases, writers can be born, and not made. But not at all. Writing could be taught, and anyone could be trained to write. If ones wants to be a writer, he could still be one as long as he strive to do it, and he got ideas that he want to share...I will consider that a myth in writing..Writing is a skill, and we could acquire through practice and hard work. Some great writers are not always good as they are, since some need to be inspire just to write, or they experience having a writer's block. A lot of writing course will teach people on how to write well, and cope with having a writer's block and etc...A lot of great writers uses history, art and some thing in their life as inspiration to write..
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@paid2write (5201)
10 May 09
Those who feel they are born with a love of writing will have the patience to keep practicing their craft, and will want to learn how to improve their writing skills. Good writing comes from practice. It requires knowledge of grammar and punctuation. A good vocabulary is also necessary. These thing have to be learned before a writer can begin to be creative with language. Someone who feels they are born to write will continue to write, and gain pleasure from writing. People who do not like writing will not feel compelled to write. I think it is possible to have a natural talent for writing, but creative people who learn the craft of writing also continue to improve their skills in order to write well.
@Ozarkgirl (774)
• United States
9 May 09
I believe that writer are born and made. Some are natural born writers that can just write about anything and everything and put it together greatly, but there are other that have the passion to write but need help in grouping their sentences, or using correct puncuation, or wording. Anyone can be taught anything if they really want to do it.... Happy MyLotting!!
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@shibham (16977)
• India
10 May 09
no friend, as my experience, writers are not born. a good practice, an observing capacity towards life related objects and his/her explanation of thoughts can make him/her a good writer. geneticaly someone may have writing abilities but without exercise it will desiccate. i have written five books ( not a good writer totally) it's my striveness not by born capacity. take care.
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@xParanoiax (6987)
• United States
13 May 09
I believe writing is both an artform and a skill. ANYONE can learn the skill part, but the art is something even those with natural talent must find on their own. So, you could argue that writers are both born and made and follow their own evolutions after that point. I'm sure you can count yourself as one of us. It's not really super complicated, being a writer. You either are, or you're trying to be, and either way...you still belong. Me? I've never questioned that I'm a writer. It's been kind of central to my being for such a long time it feels weird to think I might not be a writer.
@arkansos (545)
• India
10 May 09
Well, writers definitely cannot be made. Some people are born with a talent for creativity and you just can't give that to someone. You can teach him words, expression, personalization but he just won't be able to think of a good story to write about. That creative edge is born or at least acquired. You can make a bad writer good but you can't make a writer
@zhuhuifen46 (3483)
• China
10 May 09
I believe speakers and writers are not born, but made, through education and practice. I remember the days when I first stand in front of the class as a teacher. The same with writing. You have to learn about the basics, and through reading and practising writing, you will improve greatly. A very important thing is you also need to have the thoughts from own life and people around.
@uicbear (1900)
• United States
10 May 09
I do believe that some people are born with special talents. Some people may be born with a particular talent toward writing, but if they don't take the time to develop it, it will be wasted. I also believe that, some people are born with a natural ability to tell stories. They might not be the best writer from the start. But, writing can be learned as a skill, with time and practice. If someone is a good storyteller, but they don't take the time and put in the effort to learn how to transfer their stories to written form, that talent might be limited to the few people they can verbally tell their stories to. I think it takes part natural ability and desire to be a writer.
@maeras (107)
• United Arab Emirates
10 May 09
We can say that writing is many things...it's an art, a skill, a talent but it is something that have to initially learn. There may be people who are born to tell stories or to naturally enthrall others through words but the basic mechanics should be learned. I believe that most story tellers (especially the fiction ones) based their stories on experiences and researches...both of which includes the process of learning. The challenge in writing is how to web words to capture your readers attention. Some are luckily born having this skill.
@prinzcy (32326)
• Malaysia
10 May 09
I believe writers are made and born and really want to become a writer. Those who are born with talents but unable to use it is like not having it at all. But the one who really strive to become is better in anyway.
• Romania
10 May 09
that thing is true.if you don`t born an writer you don`t can write something who make people interesting about what you write
• United States
10 May 09
I feel that writers are made. Of course the creativity has to be there, but overall if you learn how to you can really enjoy it. I feel the same applies to myself if i hated writing until i took a course in college.