Do I Have Writing Talent It S A Mistaken Question

"do I Have Writing Talent?" It’s A Mistaken Question

Over the years, many people have asked me to look at their writing. "I need to know, do I have talent or not," they say. "Then I’ll know if I should pursue writing or stick to accounting."

Their request is seriously flawed, I'd reply. Anyone can become a better writer. When I taught English Composition at various colleges, I saw irrefutable proof of this. Students who submitted hackneyed, half-dead writing to start with turned in lively, well-written essays by the end of the semester. Likewise, I’ve seen plenty of writers whose work seems plain and unimaginative get assignment upon assignment from magazines while others with dazzling wordcraft skills can’t get published anywhere.

According to Stanford psychology professor Carol Dweck, I was right to question the query about talent. Dweck's book, Mind-set: The New Psychology of Success, reports research showing that in education, the arts and business, people who believe talent is fixed and inborn do not fully develop their potential and do not recover easily from setbacks.

Those who believe talent can be developed, regardless of apparent starting point, not only achieve more but also prompt greater achievement in their children and staff.

Her best news: You can change your mind-set about talent or intelligence. In only two months, kids who were taught that the brain, like a muscle, improves with exercise saw
their math scores rocket from F's to B's.

Toss out the belief that you either have writing talent or you don’t. Instead, approach getting published as requiring a set of skills that you can deliberately learn. These skills include:

1. Being sensitive to the differences between words. A good dictionary can help with this, if you consult it to learn, for example, whether a "cauldron" is the same as a "kettle" or when a gang member would be said to have "bravery" and when "bravado."

2. Recognizing that getting your message across has less to do with what you meant and more to do with how readers understand the words you put together. If no one "gets it," you must write it differently. Often this lesson is harder for those who feel desperately called to write than for those with a more matter-of-fact attitude toward writing.

3. Being willing to put a piece of writing aside, look at again in the cold light of the morning and rearrange, replace and revise the elements of the piece to tell the story more clearly and more artfully.

4. Having the discipline to learn and apply the rules of spelling, grammar and usage. Yes, when your work is accepted for publication you’ll usually have an editor who’ll save you from major mistakes. But editors prefer working with those who know and follow the standards of professional writing.

5. Being able to bounce back from disappointment. In the writing business, the possibility of rejection never goes away. Successful writers learn not to take it personally for more than an hour or so, then they simply go on to the next publication outlet or the next writing project.

From what I’ve observed, these five skills and attitudes matter much more for success as a writer than anything we’d generally label as talent. Resolve to develop yourself along those lines and you’re certain to get somewhere as a writer. Really!

BONUS : Do You Want Your Articles To Be Read? Do This

Remember the old riddle, "If a tree falls in the forest and no one is there to hear it, does it still make a noise?" If you write articles, ask yourself, "If I write a great article and no one reads it, does it still do its job?"

The simple answer is: NO!

You could be the best article writer, but if the title of your article is just a boring label it will not attract attention and all of your effort will go down the drain.

TEST YOURSELF

The next time you are waiting in line at the supermarket, read the article titles on the covers of the women's magazines and figure out what it is about them that attracts millions of sales each week. Which titles attract your attention and why?

The best titles will always offer to solve a problem, tell the reader how to get something he or she wants. or warn of a big problem the reader might experience if they don't read the article.

WHICH ARTICLE WOULD YOU RATHER READ?

It is clear that the most important words any article writer will write are the ones in the title. In fact, the title of an article can either attract or repel readers.

Here are two sets of headlines to analyze:

"Activities Kids Enjoy" OR "Give Your Kids A Summer To Remember"

"Make Staying Healthy A Priority" OR "5 Symptoms You Can't Ignore"

In each case, the titles refer to the same topic, but the second one conveys a benefit that the potential reader desires. They use the word "you" to make the appeal more personal. One appeals to a parent's desire to "give" to their children (emotional) and the other peaks curiosity and fear.

Chances are, you would choose to read the second article titles over the first ones if they both popped up in a search engine.

NO YAWNING ALLOWED

The titles of your articles should invite further attention, not a yawn. It may take a little more time to come up with an interesting and compelling title, but it is well worth your time.

There are several ways to generate article titles that stand out from the crowd and get read. Here are a few examples:

--Use numbers, such as "5 Steps to True Happiness" or "3 Good Reasons to Choose Fixed Insurance Over Variable." You don't have to limit number titles to list-style articles. Nearly any article can be broken up into a number of steps or reasons.

--Create a play on words using a popular phrase. For example, an article about how to wash the outside of your second-floor windows might be titled "Don't Let Window Washing be a Pane in Your Neck."

--Make your title a question: "Can You Really Make Money Online?"

--Compare something to something else: "Why Apples are Just Like Oranges."

--Fill in the blank: "How To (Blank)," "From (Blank) to (Blank)," or "Everything You Always Wanted to Know About (Blank)."

REMEMBER THE BEST MEAL YOU EVER HAD, THEN WRITE

When you write a great headline, it is like eating desert before dinner. Your article is the meat, your resource box is the potatoes, but your headline is the promise of sweet things to come.

Copyright Georganne Fiumara