Are great
authors born or can people build upon average writing skills to become great
authors? I was interested to once hear
Jackie Collins describe herself as a storyteller (with sales of 500 million
this lady must surely be at the top of the storytelling game). She was drawing a distinction between her art
and the writings of other authors who she would describe as great.
For sure,
creativity is something you are born with.
It runs in families. As an
assessor of specific learning difficulties I know that where there is dyslexia,
dyscalculia, dyspraxia, etc, there is a strongly creative nature. With a plethora of conductors, composers, musicians,
artists and poets, creativity certainly runs in my family, but everyone has
worked hard at their art which has often had to come second to a day job.
I remember
one occasion after I had submitted my second novel, one of my editors scribbled
on my manuscript alongside a particularly laborious piece of prose, “I’ve just
stabbed my eyeballs out with a spoon.”
She even drew a little picture to demonstrate how tortured my writing
was making her feel! I’d like to think I’ve
come a long way since then but know I have much further to travel. I often pick up a book, turn to the first
page and think, I’d love to be able to
write like that. I’m currently
reading Jodi Picoult’s Lone Wolf and
am absolutely hooked both by her storytelling skills and the effortless
writing. Are such authors born or have
they just worked very hard at their art?
I know that
many authors would not want the greatness that is thrust upon them. The authors I know are private individuals
who, whilst happy to see their work in print, are less enthusiastic about
participating in the publicity that accompanies it! Increasingly these days an important part of
the author’s role is self-publicity. Not
only do you have to turn out a manuscript in an ever competitive climate
that gets you noticed, you also have to demonstrate the ability to market
yourself.
Of course,
there are those ‘authors’ who have ‘greatness’ of a different sort and choose
to cash in on their fame by putting their name on a book cover. For us plebs who have struggled for years to
hone our art and secure a book deal this can be the most discouraging practice
of all. I can happily take on board
editorial criticism – pictures included! – as part and parcel of improving my
writing skills; far harder to swallow are the tabloid headlines of £400,000
advances to those in the public eye to whom writing is not of any great
personal importance.
But the pay
cheque sure is…..
