![]() In my experience, those who undervalue writing the most are often the most likely to misevaluate their own writing. This biases us towards our writing in a way that non-writers have difficulty evaluating. Unlike musical ability, we all have an innate and experienced voice in our head, and, most of the time, we think we sound pretty great. Reading it is a vastly different experience than being there in the moment speaking to those people. Those interviews are fascinating in the moment, but when I transcribe them, they're full of half-formed ideas, ums, ahs, tangents, sentences that trail off into nowhere, and everything else that's inherent to conversational English. Over the past couple of years, I've conducted a lot of Zoom and telephone interviews as I've reported on gaming and SFF. We intuitively understand each other as we speak and have a conversation. (According to Our World In Data, worldwide literacy of those 15yo+ is 85%, with fluctuations based on region, community, resources, etc.) From birth, we're taught the mechanics of language-spoken, written, non-verbal, and everything inbetween. Language and communication, on the other hand, is one of the foundational functions of humanity.Īs I mention in my tweet, nearly everyone has the basic tools to communicate and write. I can hear music in my head, and compose a melody if pressed, but music isn't an innate skill I've been immersed in since literally the moment I was born. If you sat me in front of a piano, we'd both regret it almost immediately. Unlike many of my family members, I don't have a musical bone in my body. He said this is because many people dismiss (or are unaware) of the technical elements of good writing. Writer Lincoln Michel (who just published his first novel, The Body Scout, which you should check out, and who also has a great newsletter worth space in your busy inbox) contributed an excellent point about our society's tendency to undervalue creativity in general, and writing specifically. It's enough to make any writer's skin crawl-and feel undervalued for the work they bring to the table. I've worked with a lot of smart, articulate people, and, being in the business of creating content, quickly discovered that a) good writing is severely misunderstood, and b) everyone thinks they've got the chops to write good content. This is something I've constantly run into throughout my day job as a web developer. In response to Carlén's question, many writers responded with perspective on why their craft is often undervalued compared to similar skills like music or visual arts.
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