Practice vs. Talent has been the subject of various researchers over the years. Florida State University Professor K. Anders Ericsson concluded that 10,000 hours of deliberate practice during an individual’s formative years was the magic number to achieve greatness regardless of a person’s natural aptitude. Some interpret this to mean that talent doesn't matter much and someone can become world class simply through hard work.
I find myself interested in this topic as I claw my way through writing my first work of fiction and struggle to find the great, or even good writer that I hope lurks within. My approach has been to write some, read a lot, and then write some more attempting to apply what I’ve learned from the works of really great writers. I also learn a lot from good writers. Most recently, since I started my own novel, the list looks like this:
Great
- Stephen King: Dolores Claiborne, Lisey’s Story and A Good Marriage
- Tana French: Faithful Place, The Likeness
- Dennis Lehane: Mystic River
- Amor Towles: Rules of Civility (Note: His first novel, which I thought was simply divine)
- J.K. Rowling: Every book in the Harry Potter series. (Note: Have just started The Cuckoo’s Calling and am anticipating more greatness)
- Michael Connelly: The Narrows
- PD James: The Lighthouse, The Murder Room
- Nelson DeMille: The Gold Coast
According to my current teacher and muse, Stephen King:
“While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible, with lots of hard work, dedication, and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.”
I’m going to go with this viewpoint, about which King is emphatic, and prefer to disregard the research community that’s batting around the nurture vs. nature debate without coming to a conclusion that might be useful while I’m still “upright and sniffing the air” (Stephen King). He proposes reading and writing four to six hours a day, every day. I come close most days since I listen to books in my car, where I spend a lot of time, and write many days as well.
Again quoting King, “When you find something at which you are talented, you do it until your fingers bleed or your eyes are ready to fall out of your head… every outing is a bravura performance, because you as the creator are happy.”
Okay, maybe there isn’t blood on my laptop keys (there was coffee spillage recently which rendered them unusable, but that’s another story). But I love to read great writers and enjoy the good ones as well. I love applying what I learn to my own word assembly line in the fiction factory. It makes me happy. Greatness be damned.
