The Other Side of Creative Writing

There are a lot of writing coaches out there,each one of them tries to impact a certain kind of knowledge on the would be writer or the budding writer with the hope of making them adepts in creative writing or any other form of writing. But to what extent can these trainings affect writers?Can one become a great writer through these coaching programmes?

In the not too short period that I have been in the writing profession I have discovered that most of the times those who are enmeshed and embellished with all the adornments offered through creative writing courses do not actually have the corresponding productive energy as the case should be, one size does not and cannot fit all.

Each writer has his or her own muse.When writers are blessed by their Muses we see them churning out strings and strings of words that become good poems, short stories,novels and plays.When the writers are abandoned by their Muses that is when they suffer un-productivity the much talked about writers’block.

There is something about creative writing that borders on the hidden or the unknown.It is rooted in the spiritual and the mystical and cannot be compared to any amount of training and teaching.It is the daemon—that is the inner motivator that motivates the writer at intervals to churn out words. The trainings formerly or informally can only help in the pruning and perfecting processes.Using the methods and the techniques taught in the coaching classes can make a difference in the career of a writer but not too great a difference.

Anton Chekhov the popular Russian writer once said there is no other fertile ground for the grooming of a creative writer than the medical profession. Anton Chekhov,a medical doctor cum creative writer found inspiration for his creative works while practicing medicine, so for Chekhov, the hospital wards constitute the fertile ground for creative writing.

The same cannot be said of Boris Pasternak,Oscar Wilde,Samuel Becket or Norman Mailer.

Many writers get inspired at different occasions and circumstances, creative writing of any kind comes naturally. Like William Wordsworth said—a spontaneous overflow of powerful feelings.

So what is the message here for writers especially budding writers ?Attend all the writing courses you can but listen more to your Muse.