tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post6073093791727988162..comments2024-03-05T22:12:23.918-08:00Comments on Karen Woodward: F. Scott Fitzgerald On The Price Of Being A Great WriterKaren Woodwardhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comBlogger16125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-26076490823320627622013-02-10T21:09:22.042-08:002013-02-10T21:09:22.042-08:00"What no one can teach you is how all those c..."What no one can teach you is how all those come together inside you, and result in a piece of work..."<br /><br />Amen! <br /><br />I agree, that can't be taught, but I think practice helps one acquire the skill.Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-65371519567670456322013-02-10T07:10:51.811-08:002013-02-10T07:10:51.811-08:00Aha - got here via @CarlDietrich - great blog, gre...Aha - got here via @CarlDietrich - great blog, great post, and I love the Fitzgerald quote!<br /><br />Writing can be taught - or rather, writers can be helped to learn, by teachers. We can be helped to learn craft, technique, and ways to get at that fierce, important stuff that must underpin the writing ... and ways to go out and find more of it, and to observe and imagine the clothes to dress Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-56718399489272025942013-01-15T15:31:13.228-08:002013-01-15T15:31:13.228-08:00Thanks Jerold!
"But the art must sing."...Thanks Jerold! <br /><br />"But the art must sing." Well said. You've summed up exactly what I was trying to express, more eloquently than I could have. Thank you.Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-59923219981396754342013-01-15T15:16:20.701-08:002013-01-15T15:16:20.701-08:00Writing is a craft as well as an art. It has to be...Writing is a craft as well as an art. It has to be learned. But the art must sing. A writer's task is to evoke the emotions of his reader, and to do this he must first evoke them in himself, however painful. A true writer can never hide himself from his reader, and nor should he want to. A good blog!Jerold Richertnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-91741440548325867032013-01-14T16:35:34.357-08:002013-01-14T16:35:34.357-08:00Thanks Sarah! That's a great way of summing it...Thanks Sarah! That's a great way of summing it up. :-)Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-48909868855915539852013-01-14T15:59:50.113-08:002013-01-14T15:59:50.113-08:00Great post, Karen. I definitely think writing can ...Great post, Karen. I definitely think writing can be taught, but only to those who understand that the learning process will probably be painful. :)Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/01052604405996474436noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-6742423433578818812013-01-14T14:09:20.779-08:002013-01-14T14:09:20.779-08:00Thanks Jennifer! Thanks Jennifer! Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-89596926213581032822013-01-14T14:06:34.201-08:002013-01-14T14:06:34.201-08:00As difficult as it is to put that kind of honesty ...As difficult as it is to put that kind of honesty out there, that is certainly what I want to connect to when I'm reading. <br /><br />Excellent post. Good reminder to us all. Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/09978176432357891953noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-74115176997476682292013-01-14T13:09:37.897-08:002013-01-14T13:09:37.897-08:00Thanks Todd! :-)Thanks Todd! :-)Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-91596672270870751542013-01-14T13:03:38.343-08:002013-01-14T13:03:38.343-08:00This is excellent Karen! I love how you brought F...This is excellent Karen! I love how you brought Fitzgerald in to cement your hook! I am in complete agreement with your premise. Great post!Todd R Moodyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07833210960706853909noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-35027783221466798532013-01-14T12:57:19.006-08:002013-01-14T12:57:19.006-08:00Excellent point!
This is a little unrelated to yo...Excellent point!<br /><br />This is a little unrelated to your point, but I find it interesting that I can love a writer's style and yet not care for her stories. <br /><br />I'm talking about wonderful stories that have won awards, written my masters of the craft. I LOVE the prose! But the story doesn't always grab me.Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-12459582414300586322013-01-14T12:47:27.114-08:002013-01-14T12:47:27.114-08:00I didn't hit the semantics well on that last o...I didn't hit the semantics well on that last one. What I meant was, that one may have all the writing skill in the world, but if he/she doesn't have a story behind it, characters, universe, something to say... then that particular person is not going to be a good writer or author, simply because of what that person writes, not how the person writes it. Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-5540970464518502752013-01-14T12:15:29.325-08:002013-01-14T12:15:29.325-08:00"You come to school to learn to learn."
..."You come to school to learn to learn."<br /><br />Yes, that's brilliant! Life is our teacher, if we can but learn from it.<br /><br />"That being said, while a person may be taught or self-taught to write, that doesn't mean he/she can write something good."<br /><br />But what is good? Is 'goodness', like beauty, in the eye of the beholder?Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-40443131369968861782013-01-14T12:09:42.532-08:002013-01-14T12:09:42.532-08:00Thanks Claudette!
Personally, I don't believ...Thanks Claudette! <br /><br />Personally, I don't believe in natural talent. Sure, some folks are better at some things than others. For example, Stephen Hawking. Margaret Atwood. If that's what folks mean by natural talent, okay. But anyone can be a good writer just like anyone can be a physicist. It just takes a lot of work.<br /><br />But, granted, there's only one Stephen Hawking.Karen Woodwardhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/05497346859460691324noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-62929856998664336412013-01-14T12:05:19.779-08:002013-01-14T12:05:19.779-08:00Writing definitely can be taught, but that's n...Writing definitely can be taught, but that's not the same as being understood. The pupil needs to understand what each tactic does, and in what context that particular tactic is suited for. My plastic arts professor, Bogdan Iacob, told us a super line one day. He asked one of us, "Why do you go to school?" The guy said, "I come to school to learn." The professor told him, Anonymousnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-1939271308870333669.post-83746770986077109482013-01-14T11:54:22.312-08:002013-01-14T11:54:22.312-08:00This is a very thought provoking post. I think you...This is a very thought provoking post. I think you can teach writing to a degree; but to write well you must have a natural talent. Maybe that's something your readers decideAnonymousnoreply@blogger.com