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Deliberate Practice?

edited September 2017 in Writing
I've been reading Peak by K Anders Ericsson - it is mainly about talent not being all it's cracked up to be and people who are not 'naturally gifted' can make a success of their chosen art, sport etc by the application of deliberate practice.

Those of you who are familiar with Deliberate Practice - a question. How would you apply deliberate practice to writing? What sort of exercises would you recommend? (Sorry 2 questions there, I lied!)

Comments

  • Surely that depends on what stage you're at in writing, and the individual writer's areas of weakness?

    You practise and get better by writing, getting feedback from other writers. Try different types of writing, and keep reading.
  • Steven King says something along the lines of (with work) a poor writer can become average, and an average writer can become good, but that if a person doesn't have natural talent they'll never become great, no matter how hard they try or how much they learn. I agree with that.

    However, being great isn't always a requirement to becoming successful - nor a guarantee that it will ever happen.
  • I always quote my favourite adage to our writers' group members. There are no dull subjects, only dull writers. A writer should aim to make the dullest subject matter interesting. I've just been reading your other thread Rosie Rabbit: if you need writing prompt ideas you are welcome to lift information from our website - it's there for sharing http://www.codsallwriters.weebly.com.

    Our group has survived for 30 years and I was a founder member. We've moved venues several times over the years and had varying numbers of attendees. At the moment we are fairly small and our library allows us to meet there for free. The most important thing is to keep your meetings structured and allow everyone some "floor time". You need to be strong and ask those who talk too much and at the wrong time to shut up. Hope you manage to get a writers' group underway. Good luck.
  • I'd agree with Stephen King's advice, sometimes you either have it or you don't

    I love your website, Betsie, and tell all my creative writing groups about it, and direct them to it.
  • Thanks Dora... happy to know it's of interesting to would-be writers.
  • I agree that if you don't have an innate talent for something you will never become a master however much you practise. But constant practise at something you enjoy will certainly make you better at it.

    *sighs and realises she will never be anything but a mediocre golfer*
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