I received an email from a writer asking me to critique his work and asking whether he had talent. He didn't want to write if he didn't have talent.
Talent is great, but it can also destroy you if you think that all you need is talent and the world will beat a path to your door. The willingness to learn and write is much more important than talent. Writing is a craft, like knitting or painting or pottery.
Because it is a craft, it means there are techniques and methods. You can and must learn the techniques. All you have to do is read and think like a writer, and store your ideas like a squirrel storing nuts for the winter. And practice, practice, practice. :-)
How do you "think like a writer?" You ask yourself what the writer wanted to do with a piece of writing, or how the writer wanted you to feel. What techniques can you find in the writing? How could you use those techniques in what you're working on right now?
Ask yourself--- what's the technique? How do you do that? It's useful to read an ad, an article, a novel or a book straight through first, then reread and study to dissect it for the craft it can teach you.
You write by writing and reading. Write. Read. Rinse, lather and repeat.
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