Some people claim that writing can’t be taught.
That there’s an indefinable spark in a few which, in time, will blossom.
That if you don’t have such a spark, training will do nothing for you.
That hard work and experience is not as important as talent.
This point of view is, in a word, bollocks.
Here’s why.
Let’s assume that you (yes you sir, you madam) have a certain amount of talent. Doesn’t matter how much, but there it is, a certain amount of talent.
Let’s also assume this talent might get you a job as a writer (or director, or actor, or whatever your creative profession may happen to be) if the right person happens to meet you at the right time.
Now, you can’t increase this natural pool of talent by experience and hard work. If you could, then the improvement would (by definition) be down to experience and hard work. Not the raw talent.
We can also safely assume that experience and hard work will sometimes get you a job that you wouldn’t have got without it.
You become a better writer the more you work at it. You gain contacts and friends in the industry the more you hang out with them. Sometimes one or both of these things will tip the scales, get you a job that you might not have had otherwise.
And the harder you work, and the more experience you have, the more cases in which you’ll get a job that you otherwise wouldn’t.
Regardless of the amount of talent that you had in the first place, sometimes hard work and experience will tip the scales in your favour.
Finally, if you were to believe that experience and hard work were the only thing that actually got you a job and that talent didn’t come into it at all – not one jot, not one tittle – then you would work harder and get more experience. Because that’s the only thing that matters, right?
So if you believe that talent doesn’t matter, you’ll work harder and get more experience.
Which will get you more jobs than you would have otherwise.
So if you believe that talent doesn’t matter, you’ll do better in the industry than you would have otherwise, even if it does.
So work hard. No matter how good you think you are.
