Learning to write is easy, creativity is not!

About a year ago I was working at a small craft store for the summer in an attempt to ease the financial burdens posed by financing a college education. One of my co-workers was an artist, a very talented painter who not only helped customers in the arts department, but also taught oil painting in a small classroom at the back of the store.

I struck up a conversation with him one day about painting. I made a comment that I had tried my hand at painting, but found it difficult. He laughed, and then told me that anyone can learn to paint. The technical requirements are actually quite easy. He said the hard part is painting something that is inspired and original. In other words, he said you have to have something to say.

That struck me as being true with writing. Anyone can learn to write well. It’s not hard. Once you get a handle on the basic grammar, practice is all it takes (and a lot of reading, as I have maintained in previous posts). But what is really hard, especially in fiction, is to write something that is fresh, creative and "inspired". I have read a lot of fiction that is good as far as mechanics go, but it lacks that inspiration that separates it from great fiction.

Can creativity be taught? This is where there are many gray areas and the lines start to get thin because there’s no complete agreement on the answer to that question. I personally think that creativity can be taught, to a certain point. A lot of it, however, boils down to: you either have it or you don’t.

Again, this is a real gray area I’m talking about because there are so many variables. A writer who can write okay fiction, can through lots of practice and productive feedback, can start to write great fiction.With the right atmosphere, encouragement and determination a struggling writer can make infinite improvements on his/her craft. But it’s hard, and there are a lot of distractions.

To illustrate this point of distractions, I’m going to go on a slight tangent. I’m a big fan of classical music. More specifically, I love Beethoven’s music. I also love reading about his life and the things that inspired him. The one thing that stood out, however, was how focused Beethoven was on his music. Nothing else mattered to him. His entire life revolved around composing great music. Granted, he was in a very unique position and had the luxury to compose at his leisure. A wealthy aristocrat paid Beethoven a yearly salary to do nothing more than compose. The rest of us should be so lucky.

My point is that Beethoven had no distractions. He had no television, internet, games and all the other things that people tend to distract themselves with today. He was able to focus entirely on his music without the temptations from the world around him. Even his daily schedule was set up in a way to maximize his creativity: he composed mostly in the mornings and early afternoons, and then took long walks around town. In the evenings he could usually be found at a local watering hole discussing current events with his friends.

Furthermore, Beethoven just wasn’t good at the mechanics of composing, he also had inspiration. There were many talented composers during his lifetime, but hardly any were famous. Why? Because their music lacked that creative originality that Beethoven seemed to produce so easily. Writing fiction/poetry is no different.

In conclusion, I guess the good news is that anyone can learn to write well. The bad new is, by itself, good writing usually isn’t enough. All the great writers of the past had a great amount of creativity in their work – which is why they are still read today. There are always exceptions to this, of course, as many "popular" fiction books published today aren’t that well written (I think this has more to do with the flawed business model many traditional publishers follow). But to be successful nowadays takes a combination of good writing, creativity, and lots of luck.

Related posts

• Write Now, Think Later!
• What can John Lennon Teach Us About Creativity?
• 5 Reasons Why I Write
• Why do you write?
• Don’t wait for inspiration – just write!

Read More: Writing Tips