Incanus
Auror
Something I’ve been wondering about for a long time, but I never see discussed:
Don’t different writing projects require different writing skills or techniques?
For example, wouldn’t producing Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Rings require different skill sets? I should think so.
And wouldn’t that, in turn, affect how various writing topics get discussed?
Suppose I asked a specific writing question, and both JD Salinger and JRR Tolkien responded with answers. Suppose further that those answers contradicted each other.
In my case, I would almost certainly value Tolkien’s answer more because my project is far closer to Tolkien than to Salinger. And yet, if another writer was working on a contemporary angsty teen novel, Salinger’s answer would probably be more fitting for them.
There are certainly many universal ‘rules’ that apply to almost all writing projects. But that doesn’t mean all writing projects are of equal difficulty.
I sometimes think this discrepancy leads to members of this site ‘talking past one another’. And I think it’s why something like Stephen King’s book on writing can only be so helpful—it works fine if you’re writing a Stephen King novel, but that’s not what myself and plenty of others are doing at all.
So, in general, doesn’t the nature of our projects—the genre, the style, the scope—lead us to different kinds of skills to develop? Or, is it a ‘one-size-fits-all’ situation—we all need the same set of skills no matter what we’re working on?
Don’t different writing projects require different writing skills or techniques?
For example, wouldn’t producing Catcher in the Rye and Lord of the Rings require different skill sets? I should think so.
And wouldn’t that, in turn, affect how various writing topics get discussed?
Suppose I asked a specific writing question, and both JD Salinger and JRR Tolkien responded with answers. Suppose further that those answers contradicted each other.
In my case, I would almost certainly value Tolkien’s answer more because my project is far closer to Tolkien than to Salinger. And yet, if another writer was working on a contemporary angsty teen novel, Salinger’s answer would probably be more fitting for them.
There are certainly many universal ‘rules’ that apply to almost all writing projects. But that doesn’t mean all writing projects are of equal difficulty.
I sometimes think this discrepancy leads to members of this site ‘talking past one another’. And I think it’s why something like Stephen King’s book on writing can only be so helpful—it works fine if you’re writing a Stephen King novel, but that’s not what myself and plenty of others are doing at all.
So, in general, doesn’t the nature of our projects—the genre, the style, the scope—lead us to different kinds of skills to develop? Or, is it a ‘one-size-fits-all’ situation—we all need the same set of skills no matter what we’re working on?