Yorkshire Writers' Lunch

I’m a bit of both... I remember in my first weeks at university, one of my tutors laughing at those of us who still handwrote their work before word processing it.  ‘Don’t worry, you’ll be putting it straight onto the computer by the end of the term.’  She was right.  It was great for academic work.  It saved me lots of precious time before deadlines with its nifty shortcuts and made navigating around longer pieces of work simpler.   Ever since then, when I work straight onto a computer, I edit on the spot a lot more than when I handwrite.  I have to remember to take my editing hat off otherwise I don’t finish a sentence without trying out all of its other permutations.  The writing and editing stages tangle themselves together.  I think it’s because typing straight onto the computer feels like more of a commitment.  It’s one step closer to having an audience and it looks like it will look in a reader’s hands.  I find this us...

 Is writing an art or a craft? Does it come from natural talent or hard graft? Are you born a writer or can you learn to be one? Recent debate about the value of creative writing courses – stirred up by Hanif Kureshi who disputed whether such courses could ever deliver good writing (despite teaching one himself) – has pondered the perennial question of whether writing is something that can be taught. Or is it the case that you’ve either got it or you haven’t? B ut this debate’s based on a false premise. That writing is a single process – have an idea ... write it down. When actually it’s (at least) two. Writing and editing. Two separate activities. Demanding different skills. And when you look at it that way, it’s clear that writing is both an art and a craft. You need to have a story to tell, an interesting perspective on the world, a head full of engaging characters. No one else can put those ideas in your head. Of course this is not to say that ideas are formed in a vacuum...