Talent or Hard Work?

A while back I was talking to my sister, Joanna. We were having dinner, a break from college stress for her and a break from a busy day for me. My sister and I have the arts in common, among other things, although our art forms of choice are different since I write and Joanna is a mime and actor. You can see some of her pieces on YouTube here and here. It's wonderful because we will both start talking about the creative process and the emotions we want to instill in a piece and whatever frustrations we may have over not having the story go the way we want.

So as we were talking she said, "I really don't like it when people tell me I'm so talented, because it ignores all the hard work I've done." And her comment struck me. Was she talented or did she just work hard over many years? Which led me to wonder where talent ends and hard work begins. Are people talented or do they just work harder than others and become better that way?

In my sister's case I believe there is a bit of both. She is talented, but she has been practicing and working on perfecting her movement style and body control for 14 years. Nine years ago we both wanted to get more involved in our art forms and so we both started practicing everyday. She created four or five new pieces to perform and I wrote a book and two short stories. We studied and compared notes and went back to the grindstone of work. I knew how hard she worked, because it was as hard as I did, actually harder. She went to college specifically for mime and practiced for hours and hours every day until she graduated.

Joanna came back from college and performed locally and I'd heard people gush over how talented she is. But when they say she is talented, it is as if they dismiss the years and years of hard work she put into perfecting her art. When other kids her age were playing video games and shopping at the mall, she was stretching and playing with invisible balls. When other college students were studying math, science or nursing and becoming proficient in those areas, she was doing the same only with dance. She didn't wake up one morning with all the grace and style she has now. She worked hard for it and her performance is a direct result of how hard she has worked, not how much talent she has.

A person can be able to pick up an action or activity quickly. Yet is this talent or just a quickness of mind? The only way that person will become truly gifted is through hard work: Practice, day in and day out over years, repeating it until the times it is right outnumber the times it is wrong. There is an element to which any person can become decent at any activity through practice. For instance, I believe anyone can write. Writing is a craft that can be learned. Words can be chosen, plots accomplished step by step, characters can be molded. All of these things are possible to learn and become good at through practice. Still even when a person knows all these things it does not make them brilliant or great. And perhaps this is when talent picks up to separate those who can from those who can amaze. However, the point is that those who can amaze have spent a long time practicing to get there. So are they really talented or did they just work harder than everyone else?

Writing Exercises 3

I've done scene Beginnings and Middles and now it's time for Endings. By the time I got to the scene endings chapter in Make a Scene (a really fun writing book that if you are interested in writing you should check out) I will say that all the different beginnings and middles I'd created had started to blend together into a disjointed whole. So I would borrow whichever elements of the previous parts in the endings that I thought were interesting or would work for the type of ending I was doing. I will still try to add the middles I predominately used to help with the flow of the piece.

Zoom-in Ending-follows The Unexpected Revelation

"Where did you get that?" Cara asked. She jabbed her finger at the key Vince was dangling from the chain around his neck.

"I can't tell you."

"Can't or won't?"

Vince shrugged. "Doesn't matter, but I know the key won't fit the lock."

All the excitement fizzled out of Cara. She marched over to the secret closet and jammed the key at the lock again. Vince was right. The tumblers would not turn. Slowly her disappointment escaped through her lips. Her forearm vein pulsed where the bookshelf had pinned it. Each throb was a reminder her pain had been for nothing. Still the key meant something. She studied it closer. There were markings on the head that she could trace. It was a clue, even though it was not the one she wanted. She would find the right key, even if it meant another bookshelf fell on her.

Zoom-out Ending-follows The Unexpected Revelation

Vince hated to see the disappointment cloud Cara's eyes. She tried the lock again but it would not open. With a frustrated groan she stomped back to the living room and tossed the key on the table.

"So what does the key go to?" she asked.

Vince shrugged his shoulders. "I don't know."

Cara frowned. "But you're wearing it around your neck."

"It was just given to me for safe keeping." He should have never showed it to her. By doing so he'd broken at least five rules and could be expelled. He wasn't sure how, but he'd have to steal that key and soon before the others found out and Cara became a target. So many lives had been destroyed already. It shouldn't be possible for a key to be worth more than any human life, but it was.

The Conclusive Ending-follows The Element Danger

"Well, I have to get back to Rachel. Sorry about the damage to your door."

Cara squeezed the key tight at the mention of Rachel enjoying how it dug into her skin. "I wanted to get a new door anyway."

"See ya," and then he was gone.

She watched the door scrap a path in the sawdust and caught a glimpse of Vince's green shirt through the hole and then the hall was empty.

"You have to get used to this." And for the first time her heart agreed. She was tired of hoping, tired of waiting. Besides she had the lock and the key. They would consume her time and for now that was enough.


Thus ends the scenes of Cara and Vince. At least for now. :) How are your scene endings going?