Natural flair, inborn talent, urge to
express, fertile imagination, good command over language, rich vocabulary, and
good knowledge of men and matters – are these sufficient to make one a good
writer?
Not going back far into time but
restricting myself to contemporary, modern writers, I find that the
above-listed qualities are not sufficient. Writers of news reports, articles,
form one category of the writing community, while writers of fiction,
non-fiction, of different genres form the other.
The second category requires much more than
the qualities listed above, mastery over storytelling and narrative style, for
instance. Germination and development of the central plot, creation of
characters to carry the plot, coherence in narration are some other essential
qualities for an engrossing storyline.
Agatha Christie, the
Queen of Mystery, used to weave a web with her words and drag readers along
with a nose ring.
Irving Wallace was an
acclaimed master storyteller.
Alistair MacLean was nonpareil
in descriptive prose.
Frederick Forsyth has
an uncanny and incredible eye for detail.
These are essential facets of effective
storytelling.
The above are but a few examples of what I
am trying to say. There are myriad other great contemporary, modern writers with
their narrations and inimitable narrative styles for generations to enjoy e.g.
Leon Uris, Erle Stanley Gardner, Arthur Hailey, Harold Robbins, to name only a
few.
All the above and may more writers have
left an indelible impression on the reader in me decades ago. Much later, when
I took to writing, this impression was to carry over to my writing ability and style,
too.
That will be fodder for thought in Part #II
of this blog.
Be seeing you...
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