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> Writers have workshops and critiquing circles. They have editors. Review, review, review. Draft, draft, draft. Sure, that is probably how "professional" writ
by pm90 8y ago
> Writers have workshops and critiquing circles. They have editors. Review, review, review. Draft, draft, draft.
Sure, that is probably how "professional" writers get good. But we've had good writers before there were all these tools , didn't we? I find it hard to imagine e.g. Bukowski attending a writing workshop.
Some people just have the talent. Others are mediocre and get better with effort.
- ghaff 8y agoSure, some people have more natural talent (and upbringing, background, etc.) But I suspect you're underestimating how hard talented people still have to work to produce quality output.
- pnathan 8y agoNot to my knowledge. The University Workshop as a reified formal system, yes. But the review and drafting system where you rewrite it yourself and show your friends the work, then rewrite; it has been present for a quite long time. My dim recollection is that it extends into the 1700s in English literature as a thing. I seem to recollect anecdotes of Johnson doing so; Puritan theologian-pastors previewed their ideas in sermons before publishing them. A more learned historian of literature or theology would be able to provide hard accounts here. As a general remark, the outsider as genius in full flower springing out of Zeus' forehead is astonishingly rare, and should never be taken to be normative or as an ideal to aspire to. This an ancient principle: there is no royal road to geometry.