My philosophy is if you think you are great, you are not, but if you think you are bad, you are just crippling yourself. To be great you must know your weakness and your strengths. You must acknowledge every weapon you have and use it as well as sharpen your weakness to allow your strengths to shine. So Do I think I am good, Yea and no. My grammar may be bad, and I am horrible with vocab and spelling, but my strengths are that I'm pretty creative (a common trait for all writers) and I can creative some random nonsense from nothing (pretty pointless) but I stand with pride
thewordsmith - love your post, and makes me want to read more of your stuff I have been told that I am good at expressing simple ideas, but more complex ideas I tend to mess up - err, that might be because to me all my ideas are simple so I treat them equally. Hence, my problem is that apparently I have complex ideas but I don't know it. If getting a bad review inspires me want to write more, makes me a good writer then I am one. If getting a good review and feeling proud of myself makes me a good writer then I am one. If the words 'its fine' annoy me makes me a good writer then I am one. What more can I say?
When I say that you have to believe you are "great," I do not mean "invincible." Someone who is truly great is always searching to perfect their work, never satisfied with their successes. Belief in one's own invincibility is often tied to a form of weakness.
I agree with Aeschylus. Though I do believe that nothing is perfect (including in writing). There should be always one or two things you could've done better, or changed and so on. Though having a high self esteem should help in writing.
I don't think I stand out. I sometimes like what I write, but it can be when I read it again a while later I dislike it. Happens the other way around too. But my meema, always told me, that once someone realises they're good at something, that knowledge makes them lose some of their talent. In short, always strive to be better.
There was an author (I can't seem to remember his name) who once said something along the lines of, "I've never been a great writer, but i've been a great rewriter." I've always applied his words to my own work.
Do you think you are a good writer? Do I think I am a good writer? Do other people think I am a good writer? Do other people read my writing? Do people who read my writing say I am a good writer? Do people who have read my writing say I am not a good writer? Do people who read my work enjoy my writing? So many questions - mostly calling for subjective answers Does it matter? Good, better, best, great, greatest, greatest ever. etc etc I personally believe that my ability to write is controlled by the same part of the brain that allows me to talk. That part of my brain is not always under my control. Sometimes the words come out so easily. Sometimes the words do not fit together as well as they might. Sometimes no words come at all. I can only type the words in the order they arrive in my fingers. To me personally the objective behind writing is to relieve an insatiable urge. Often writing is the only way to expunge an idea from my head. If I can make somebody else think about a topic and especially if they come to my way of thinking about that topic, then I have achieved something. Would it matter if it were not my best work? If someone does say they enjoyed the words I have written then for a second or two I get a small buzz but rarely do I say: "thank you". The next critic of the same article might just as easily say nothing at all. To some critics 'good' may be other critic's 'bad'. I think my answer to the original question must be: 'I don't know'. Writing is a bit like playing an instrument; sometimes the music made sounds good, sometimes not so good. What does 'good' mean anyway? B G
I think there is always room for improvement - there's never that point where you're as good as you're ever gonna get. I think it's harmful to be too sure of yourself, but I think it's even more harmful to be too down-yourself. Know what I mean? People (friends, family) say I'm good... personally, I think I'm about 30% skill/ability, and 70% potential. So well put! Fantastic. So true.
Depends on who you compare me with. Many people have said I'm a good writer -- some even said that I'm better than they are ["they" sometimes being people I greatly respect and look up to as writers] -- but I'd say I'm not as good as many people. I guess you could say I'm decent, though I'll let you guys decide when I post something on here.
It depends on whether I'm writing fiction or nonfiction. I'm more confident in my ability to write nonfiction than fiction, since the artistic value of the prose seems to be less of an issue in nonfiction.
I am actually quite a good singer, have even been making a living of it for a while. My girl, age 2 -- comparing me to Maria Callas, Tina Turner, Pink and the like -- just says, "Hush, mommy, you can't sing". All depends on which scale you apply Writing is a complex theme like "being a mother". What defines a good mother? What a good writer? You can be good at limited fields, like differential analysis. My idea of being good at a more complex field is to always look for chances to get better. I almost never like anything i write in the beginning -- mainly talking of non-fiction here, rather new to writing fiction. The more work i am putting in something, the more it relates to me. I assume i also feel it is "good" then, but i never think about it like that. I just want to make a subject my own.
Well, that sums up in a few words what I feel about this writing business. I wish I had thought of saying that. For sure the effort is never going to pay me a cent but I am not going to allow some academic to put my thoughts down in a formalised writing style. If it carries my name, then I thought it and my fingers typed it. What I am really concerned about is whether the reader got the gist of what I was trying to communicate without the benefit of speech and non verbal communication aids. If readers don't like my style of writing or even the thoughts which I am trying to project, then so be it. But maybe you have to be old to think this way. "I am what a lifetime has made of me. Accept me or turn the page". Barry G
I actually agree with that way of thinking about it. I love to write, but I don't feel like my writing style is ANYTHING like anybody else, so I'm afraid that they might hate what I write. I'm not saying I'm excellent but I don't think I'm too bad. But then, I also start feeling like I am bad. Lets just say, I'm my biggest critic. And that sucks, because I end up focusing too hard and than I lose the flow of everything.
I like to think that I'm good at writing academic essays (and my tutors have agreed). But my creative writing needs work.
No, I think I'm horrid. My dialogue is shoddy, I don't emphasis enough on characterization, and I'm too busy worrying about the tiny details when I should be focusing on the bigger picture (No one cares about the fifth king of your fictional kingdom that doesn't even exist in the current timeline!). We're not even gonna mention my punctuation.
My plots I feel are good... my style is definitely wanting, practice makes perfect. There's so much you can do with a re-draft as well
Seriously, never thought of it that way... Just so happy to have found this great forum. I hastily posted something of my own, that is true, but only to give people an idea what kind of person I was. First thing I will do when the thread gets unlocked though is... I will post a revised version of it -- already so ashamed of some mistakes in there, including some wrong punctuation and some stuff having to do with direct speech in English. So Cogito's posts, as well as others', already helped me such a great deal, I am really grateful for it. I am a little reluctant to revise the work of others, but only because this site has got a very high standard. So -- an altogether humbling experience
Do I think I'm a good writer? Not really. I mean, I think I understand grammar and the English language well, and I think my ideas for stories are decent, but I'm nothing special. My characters are kind of shallow, and I find it hard to write anything longer than a short story. I've got a long way to go if I want to call my writing "good."
If you are practicing a bad habit, it will only make you more persistently bad at what you are trying to learn. DON'T get me started on THAT again!
what makes one a good writer? do you think writers are born or one needs to brush up with skills to be a good writer
If you could answer this question succinctly with a one-size-fits-all answer, you'd be a millionaire. Without intending to over-simplify things, I think good writing comes down to mastery of two skills, namely Compositional skills (imagination, vocabulary choices, the ability to plan a plot) and Technical skills (knowledge of grammar and punctuation, writing in the correct register and person, knowledge of the genre). Note: these lists are non-exhaustive. In my opinion, the technical skills can be learnt much easier than the compositional element. Imagination is something you've either got or you haven't. But let's face it, if you're already dabbling in writing, you've got it.
