It’s the old nature versus nurture question: are some things (talents of many kinds) inborn or can they be learned.

No one has a quick or easy answer to this. For sure, a writer must have certain verbal abilities and love words, whether spoken or written. Such ability comes naturally to some people and there’s little doubt that “nature” is involved.

That being said, I’m reminded of Stephen King’s excellent book, “On Writing,” where he says, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”

Aside from mastering the fundamentals of language and the basics of writing fiction, reading fiction (if you want to write it) is crucial.

I’ll have much more to say about this in my next blog.

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