Why Good Language Skills and Imagination Make A Writer
An accomplished writer has exceptional language skills. There is nothing that is more fundamental to the craft of writing than this. It is language which is the very foundation to our thoughts, our capacity to reason, to manipulate our environment, and adapt to change, and even to express emotions, which are cognitive.
Mastery of language means that you have a good range of vocabulary, you know what good grammar is, and you also know what rules you may break, and still be a good writer. The latter is the beginning of creativity.
A creative person has a fertile imagination, and very often this involves a love of experimentation, and trial and error. Good writers may be scientists or artists. Just think of the imagination great inventors have. Sometimes, they stumble upon an idea, and involved in the process of discovery is a cocktail - a curious mind, rational thinking, the will to innovate, and creativity.
When people try to put writers into the categories of “planners” or “pantsers” I believe this is a false dichotemy. All writers plan, even if it is a kind of rehearsal in their heads, before they sit down to write. I also believe all good writers are “pantsers,” too. Differences between good writers are on a continuum, rather than an “either/or” formulation.
There is an intuitive, spontaneous aspect to the imagination, and coupled with a dose of daring and nerve, good writers will dive in, and go beyond boundaries to break conventions. Think of writers who play with language, and invent new words or writers who defy the rules of genre to invent new forms of writing. I think they are like the ancient navigators, who discovered new worlds!
For me, the main part of being a good writer is knowing how to use my toolbox of language to create something people will read and enjoy. My imagination emerges when my natural child is at play, and the things I create “come in” from the deep recesses of my subconscious. My inner critic has let me off the hook for a while, and work is play. This is when I am in peak time, and I experience flow. It sometimes even takes me by surprise, and I ask myself, “Did I really write that?”
Copyright Suzy Davies, Author. 18/05/2017. All Rights Reserved.
Note: This article also appears on Quora as an answer to a question.
Mastery of language means that you have a good range of vocabulary, you know what good grammar is, and you also know what rules you may break, and still be a good writer. The latter is the beginning of creativity.
A creative person has a fertile imagination, and very often this involves a love of experimentation, and trial and error. Good writers may be scientists or artists. Just think of the imagination great inventors have. Sometimes, they stumble upon an idea, and involved in the process of discovery is a cocktail - a curious mind, rational thinking, the will to innovate, and creativity.
When people try to put writers into the categories of “planners” or “pantsers” I believe this is a false dichotemy. All writers plan, even if it is a kind of rehearsal in their heads, before they sit down to write. I also believe all good writers are “pantsers,” too. Differences between good writers are on a continuum, rather than an “either/or” formulation.
There is an intuitive, spontaneous aspect to the imagination, and coupled with a dose of daring and nerve, good writers will dive in, and go beyond boundaries to break conventions. Think of writers who play with language, and invent new words or writers who defy the rules of genre to invent new forms of writing. I think they are like the ancient navigators, who discovered new worlds!
For me, the main part of being a good writer is knowing how to use my toolbox of language to create something people will read and enjoy. My imagination emerges when my natural child is at play, and the things I create “come in” from the deep recesses of my subconscious. My inner critic has let me off the hook for a while, and work is play. This is when I am in peak time, and I experience flow. It sometimes even takes me by surprise, and I ask myself, “Did I really write that?”
Copyright Suzy Davies, Author. 18/05/2017. All Rights Reserved.
Note: This article also appears on Quora as an answer to a question.
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