33 Responses to “Is imagination natural talent?”

1. Ryan on Tuesday: 27 May 2008|2040

   I’m in the same boat that this dude is in. This sounds promising for me. I think I might have a chance at this…

2. FunkedWriter on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|0402

   I was thinking about something similar just yesterday!

   I find that the longer I’ve been writing, the more freely ideas start to flow.

   The way I see it, the more you *think* like a writer, the more your brain adjusts to working that way – to the point where it’s constantly playing the ‘what if?’ game. It becomes second nature.

   Also, being a natural cynic helps to think of the worst case scenario for a given situation – that always helps to kickstart an idea and let your imagination go wild! ;)

   Great post!

   (The not-so)FunkedWriter

3. clive on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|0545

   This is just my personal take, but my experience tells me that “naturally talented” writers often turn out to be hopeless in professional environments like screenwriting or copy writing. This is because they are both forms where being able to abide by the technical requirements of the form, are largely more important than linguistic skill.

   I think where natural talent does play a part in screenwriting, is when it comes to dialogue. Again my experience tells me that some people have an ear for how people talk and some people don’t. Maybe I’m just a bad trainer, but I’ve never found a way to turn someone with a poor ear for the spoken word, into someone who is good at that.

   At the other extreme, I for instance, have a mildly autistic relationship with language. So although I’ve a great ear for dialogue and sentence rhythms, I’ve never been able to spell or proof read worth a damn! Something that I find endlessly frustrating.

   However, that hasn’t stopped me either having a professional career as a writer or as a film maker.

4. clive on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|0546

   The irony of the typo in the last sentence, hasn’t escaped me! LOL

5. nicolle on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|1119

   Nice post, unk. I dunno why, and it doesn’t specifically have anything to do with imagination per say, but after reading this the metaphor that writing is a lot like driving has gotten stuck in my head. I suppose all competitive things boil down to essentially the same thing: You’ve got an infinite number of variables- vehicle make/model, horsepower, options, etc. Road & track conditions. Driver experience, technical knowledge and raw talent. Luck. Whatever.

   Thing is, no matter what you’re working with the ‘winner’ isn’t predetermined. There’s never a guarantee. Strategies, skills and desire are all individual. Everything goes into the tool box and you craft your win by mastering (ideally, at any rate) what you’ve got and working to obtain what you don’t.

   I mean it could be anything- racing, baseball, lawn darts; and defining a ‘Win’ for screenwriting is subjective as well, so there’s probably not much of a concrete argument here, but I did see a nice ’70s Mercury on the way to work this morning, which was cool, so that’s probably why I have cars on the brain.

6. Caroline on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|1137

   You’re a mindreader and a godsend, Unk. I’m having a bad day and this was the perfect little pep talk to get my head back in the game, thanks.

7. neil on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|1927

   I was actually dreading the release of Indiana Jones and the Crystal Skull because I thought it would tread too close to my own movie, which had a psychic crystal skull (now I changed it to a spine and skull-The Spine of Doom- lol).

   Fortunately, the Indy 4 was one of the most sloppiest written movies I have seen in years and has made me reconsider whether -I- am the hack writer or not.

   Lately, I can’t stand most movies. I went to see “Baby Mama” because I have a crush on Tina Fey. It was not funny at all, nor interesting. I walked out 3/4 the way through the film. It was so derivative and unimaginative it actually shocked me at how patently lame it was.

   It’s been really hard for me to get excited to go to the movies anymore. I can either see the plot instantly and figure out the entire movie in the first five minutes, or the movie simply bores me to death.

   You know what I consider to be imagination and creative is the sequence in 2001 where Bowman has to unplug HAL. Having HAL regress all the way back to when he was first created was pure genius. Plus the fucking spooky pre-recorded message playing at that very moment when Bowman is unplugging HAL is pure timing genius.

   That was so fucking amazing and ahead of it’s time it still awes me to this day.

   You gotta remember 99% of the computers in the world did not even have a computer screen at that time and here was Kubrick and Clarke putting together a realistic world that is very similar to what we have today; or what we could have had if we spent half as much energy on space exploration as on blowing each other up.

   Anyhoo, perhaps I might not suck after all. I do have a pretty awesome imagination. Too bad it’s paired with SADHD *super ADHD. However, this summer I plan on letting my imagination loose full throttle for the first time in my life. Anything goes now!

8. Scott on Wednesday: 28 May 2008|2201

   Personally, if you have to wonder if you are good enough to make it as a profesisonal screenwriter, then I don’t think you are.

   If you are good enough, you know it. Because you are busting your ass to make it happen. You are getting up 3 hours earlier and staying up 3 hours later than all of the other competition out there.

   You have to.

   You must.

   You need to, to be that good.

   Sure sure, there are going to be writers who pump up their shit like they’re the greatest, and write perfect first drafts and smell their own shit and think it’s wonderful and say they don’t have to work at it, “it comes naturally”. Screw those guys.

   I am not arrogant, but I know I am a damn good screenwriter. I have to know it to survive in this spine-cracking, sould-destroying, heart-squashing business.

   And so do you.

   So start thinking you are that damn good, work harder than every other writer out there, get up earlier and stay up later than me, put your blood, sweat, tears and everything else into every single line of text you write, master it, know it, live it, love it, and then you WILL be that good.

   If you have the passion, and have the drive, and have the determination, you can pull it off. Talent is not something everyone is born with. I am not a great writer, as far as making beautiful paragraphs to fit in a great novel. But I can knock the fuck out of a screenplay. Know how?

   Love of movies.
   Love of screenwriting.
   Hours, days, weeks, years, honing the craft.
   Knowing and living structure.
   Working my ass off.

   I have the wife and the mortgage and the shitty job to pay the bills too.

   But I work my ass off, sleep when I’m dead, and put together more and better quality work than some “working” writers I know.

   So have faith in your skill, work at mastering it, keep those fresh ideas coming, and you ARE that good.

   So there.

9. Tom on Thursday: 29 May 2008|0835

   One of the most important skills that a writer should possess is the ability to make seemingly unrelated things relevant to one another.

   Finding symmetry in the mundane (or the fantastic, for that matter) is often what gives a script meaning. This requires a strong imagination, I think.

10. Ryan on Thursday: 29 May 2008|1804

    Scott,

    Good job… Liked it.

    Your speech reminded me of Rick Ross’ PUSH IT song.

11. Gina Jennings on Thursday: 29 May 2008|2018

    I’m going to have to say you’re right. Structure is my weakest area, and I often tend to write myself into a corner and get stuck. Or get bored.

12. RML on Saturday: 31 May 2008|0441

    I think that if we regarded ourselves not simply as writers, i.e., where the words and word combos solicit reaction, but as “visionists”/”imagists” in which word images solicit response, we could “embrace” structure in a whole new way.

    Perhaps film is more like the I Ching than mimicking a play that takes place “outside”. The individual scene images — like the thrown yarrow stalks — by themselves may be interesting, but strewn together, form a very specific pattern. A pattern that can determine the fate of empires.

    “Structure” is this pattern (imo). But, for some reason, the word “structure” — like the wrong person touching your arm with their creepy hand — doesn’t sit well with the ‘ol psyche. There’s resistance to the word.

    All the best to you,

    RML

13. MaryAn on Saturday: 31 May 2008|1000

    Well, I’m going to be odd man out here. I don’t think creativity or imagination can be acquired. Imagination can be tapped if it’s already there, nurtured, developed, and refined. But, not taught and not acquired.

14. Christina Shaver on Saturday: 31 May 2008|1138

    What is the likelihood of anyone becoming a professional screenwriter? How many thousands of people write how many thousands of screenplays a year? And of those, how many get made? And of those how many are widely distributed?

    If you’re wondering whether this is a profession they should pursue to pay the bills, regardless of your writing chops or imagination, that answer would be no. The statistics just don’t weigh out.

    But if you’re writing screenplays for your own personal enjoyment and betterment of self or even to entertain close friends and family, well that’s another thing entirely. And my guess is that it’s those people — who write because something inside them demands it — have the best shot. Still, it’s an awfully, awfully long shot.

15. Ryan on Saturday: 31 May 2008|1907

    Christina,
    You sound like my ole pappy as I was growing up. If you don’t make the baseball team… Then you wont be playing baseball for very long. What are the odds of you doing this or that? Look how good you have to be… Well lets face it. You ain’t.

    That’s the type of stuff my dad would always say to me. Even in my career which has nothing to do with screenwriting. He has always been against me to do stuff just cause he was a LAZY ASS, himself and has done nothing his whole life that he is proud of.

    To me… If anyone has the desire and puts in their “blood, sweat, and tears” into it. Anything’s possible. I think if they are willing to pay their dues just like anyone else. Whether they do this for a living or not. They can succeed at it.

    How many times has Unk said that 80% of the movies out there are “SHIT”. Maybe that percentage is higher. Cause it feels like it. There aren’t that many movies that I want to go and see throughout the year. Maybe. Just maybe. I can add one movie to that list that people would want to see that’s worth seeing.

    I know you were being realistic. My ole pappy is the same way. It’s people like him that motivate me and I wont let it bother the hell outta me so bad I wanna quit.

    More fuel to the fire.

16. Benny on Sunday: 1 June 2008|1220

    Hello Unk,

    My imagination got lost once, after 3 divorces and the whole nine-yards.

    But I got it back once the ex-wives aged and the “Gremlins” finished College.

    Never give up. The imagination loves stress.

    Best,
    Benny

17. Mike on Tuesday: 3 June 2008|0310

    Ryan, I agree. If “you’re not in the game”, then you’ll never play. Also, if one doesn’t take their writing seriously, then you probably won’t go through the pain, sweat, and tears necessary to get better.

    It’s easy to get caught in the mindset of: Oh, it’s just a hobby, after all, why should I bother. I just like making fun little stories. Well, that’s all they’ll be.

    With regard to the talent vs. hard work question, I thought this article was pretty appropriate:

    http://www.findingdulcinea.com/news/health/Hard-work–not-intelligence–key-to-getting-ahead.html

    I’d equate imagination with “intelligence” here. Sure, some of us have more of it than others, but the amount of elbow grease you put in to perfecting your craft goes a long way too.

18. Mark on Tuesday: 3 June 2008|0916

    Although it isn’t a requirement of screenwriting, it is a very good exercise to go and make some short films. This is a great way to find out if you are any good or not. What works on paper doesn’t necessarily translate to the screen.

    Get some friends together. Make it dogma style if need be. See how your work sounds and looks. Learn what an edit is. Screenwriters are too often disconnected from the process even though some of the best screenwriters out there are also directing their own films.

    Great writer/directors: Billy Wilder, Francis Coppola, Woody Allen, Ingmar Bergman, Krystof Kieslowski, Akira Kurosawa, Orson Welles, Steven Soderbergh, David Mamet, John Huston, Paul Schrader, The Coen Brothers (etc etc).

    Again, I’m not saying you need to make films but it sure helps. You’ll see your writing flaws very quickly.

    Mark

19. Benny on Tuesday: 3 June 2008|0948

    Hey Mark,

    Good point.

    Sometimes all it takes is to test parts of the script as a short film.

    Screenwriters can do this by bartering with upcoming film directors. Some directors have their own film equipment.

    Benny

20. Creative Writing - Imagination vs. Talent » The Story Ideas Virtuoso | The Story Ideas Virtuoso on Tuesday: 3 June 2008|2108

    [...] Read the debate on imagination versus talent for the creative writer. (Opens in new window) [...]

21. $1000 on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0019

    Mark,
    I agree 100% that screenwriters should make films. The only thing I disagree about with you is when you say they should make shorts.
    Shorts don’t train people to write features, in the same way short stories, don’t teach you to write novels.
    So, yes, makes films… but make micro-budget, digital, feature films.
    I think Benny is on the write track, if you can’t devote the time to shooting an entire feature… it makes real sense to shot scenes from a feature script… even taping a read through can help.
    I really, really want to see more screenwriters making proactive decisions to become writer/producers… to find local indie directors and to actually make films.
    I was at Cannes recently and in a workshop of sixty screenwriters I was the only one who had ever had any of their scripts produced.
    I know I didn’t even start to understand what I needed to know about screenwriting until I’d completed my second feature film. Seeing a complete movie, on the screen shows you your strengths and your weaknesses, in a way just writing never does.
    You really must excuse me, because this subject is a really hobby horse of mine… and the fact that I run an online magazine called 1000dollarfilm… which is all about how and why people (in particular screenwriters) should make micro-budget movies, means I do tend to bang on about this.
    My personal take on the industry, as it stands at the moment, is that as writers we can’t afford to continue seeing ourselves as employees of the studio system… that model of working is rapidly becoming obsolete, to be replaced with a more entrepreneurial approach to screenwriting.

22. Carlo Conda on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0248

    And, once you become an A-lister like Lucas, you can pile derivative shit all you want.

    btw Unk, why isn’t there a persona-remembering feature on this version of your site? :(

23. Carlo Conda on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0251

    What I meant to say is that it takes a lot to make it, but what you see in the movies (especially the blockbusters) is not the result of skilled film making. In the film industry, you need to aim a tad bit lower than blockbusters get loads better at your craft.

    Try to write a blockbuster, and you’ll be walking in a park. Try to write a memorable movie, and you’ll be in for a journey. The kicker is that it’s an uphill battle to produce for a downhill industry.

24. RML on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0442

    As this thread is about “imagination” vs “natural talent”, what $1000 is saying is spot on. Perhaps one of the reasons that the bulk of produced films show little imagination or natural talent is the fault of the current process, and the diminished position the scriptwriter holds in it.

    Film is a visual medium. It is a business, an industry… driven by profit. Filmmakers, with imagination and natural talent (luck and financial backing) are entrepreneurs. Like so many other enterprises in the world today, it’s the independent vs the corporate.

    Most aspiring scriptwriters are trying to plug into the corporate structure: writing a story — not as a blueprint for film project — but as a perfectly formatted written 110 pages for the “reader”. What does this reader have to do with making films? As screenwriters, we have hocked our wagons to the wrong star.

    “I really, really want to see more screenwriters making proactive decisions to become writer/producers… to find local indie directors and to actually make films.”
    This is it! This is exactly the premise, where our energies should be! We should stop pounding on the doors that will not be opened for us. A known producer inadvertently made a very enlightened statement: “It is easier to put together the funding for a project than it is to have a major studio exec read your script …”

    We (supposedly) have the talent and imagination to create something from nothing. Why don’t we create a new process? Why do we continually tone-it-done so that the status quo will throw a little swag our way? Why do we have to pimp ourselves with the hope of being taken seriously?

    “…as writers we can’t afford to continue seeing ourselves as employees of the studio system… that model of working are rapidly becoming obsolete, to be replaced with a more entrepreneurial approach to screen-writing…”
    Amen, bro.

    We should be exploring new funding procedures, pooling our resources (like what IndieVest is doing), stop wasting our time and money on the old haggard process that is making the scriptwriting “after-market” wealthy?

25. mark on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0502

    $1000 – I’m talking about baby steps. You can film scenes from your feature or write a short. Short films teach you about film grammar and visual language. They teach you about mise en scene and editing.

    Producing a feature film is a daunting task and one that an insurance saleman with kids isn’t going to readily jump into. My suggestion is not to get a director or producer but a standard home video camera on the weekend. Shoot some scenes, edit them together on your mac or pc. Learn the basics then worry about climbing the mountain.

    For those writers who have spent some time honing their craft I would absolutely agree with you.

    Mark

26. Nature vs Nuture | brainhealthhacks.com on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0615

    [...] are three perspectives on this subject; one in the writing realm (screenwriting in this case: Unknown screenwriter) and two others in athletics (Chuckie V and Alan [...]

27. $1000 (er it's Clive, I'm not using two names to confuse) on Wednesday: 4 June 2008|0712

    Mark

    My perspective is different, maybe because I’m a veteran filmmaker and can remember why shorts used to be important. When I first started writing, you could only realistically enter the market with a feature film shot on S16mm or 35mm, which meant budgets had to be in excess of $2M.

    Digital at that time just couldn’t be used to a quality product. So, writer/directors used to make shorts on S16mm and 35mm in order to get a showreel, which they combined with their script, in order to get finance to make the film.

    Cheap HD and Final Cut Pro blew all of that out of the water. So, now there is no financial imperative to make shorts. Shorts are like your appendix… we’ve out evolved them.

    Where shorts are useful, are for wannabee directors, who are trying to put themselves though DIY film school… and if as a writer you want to take that approach, then shorts make tons of sense. The only problem is, the market doesn’t favour unknown directors in the same way it does unknown screenwriters (God, that works on so many levels! LOL)

    I actually do agree with you that test shooting scenes from a feature is a good idea. However, you never really understand whether a feature script works until you see it assembled on the timeline.

    So it’s stages really… everyone needs to develop in a way that suits them creatively.

    Don’t get me wrong, I’m not anti-spec scripts… but I think a sensible career strategy is to play both ends of the game… but not get caught in the middle.

    So, pitch $34M specs to the majors and make produce sub $7,000 movies yourself.

    However, the dangerous ground is that in the middle… when you start making $25,000+ movies, because for some reason they pick up the worst of both ends with none of the advantages. The budget is too small to do the job properly, but there is enough money to pay the less competent. At the same time you end up having to tailor your script to the bargain bin direct to DVD distributors. So, massive compromise and quality restrictions.

    With a micro-budget you bypass all that, remove the market pressures and at the same time get the opportunity to pull off a “Primer”… control and creative freedom. Works for me.

28. Chris on Saturday: 7 June 2008|1658

    This a phase of so called identity. Everything, wife, kids, money, job, car, dreams, etc. Close the light. Sit in chair. Put music. Breath. Close your eyes. “-So damn lucky you are to be a part of this wonderful century, you bastard. You don’t feel luck to be apart of such marvelous time to express your existence. Now shut the hell up and listen to what I have to say.” Now write…

29. The Story Ideas Virtuoso - Celebrations | The Story Ideas Virtuoso on Friday: 13 June 2008|2109

    [...] Read the debate on imagination versus talent for the creative writer. (Opens in new window) [...]

30. strange but true on Wednesday: 2 July 2008|1846

    Can I ask a question:” Is so much analysis of the craft of screenwriting actually killing the craft?”

    Answer: I think so.

    All the writers I know, actually I’ll rephrase that; professional artists I know have one common characteristic: A STRONG WORK ETHIC.

    Some are married, some are single, some have mortgages, some live alone in rented flats, some are on the poverty line (trust me this is just as hard to write amongst as being married, kids and a full-time job, probably harder, insanity always knocking at the door)some are wealthy and live the life of Riley.

    What matters is a strong work ethic and the goals that you’re trying to achieve, this combined with NATURAL TALENT and IMAGINATION, which really are two sides of the same coin and I find it weird that the Unknown Screenwriter creates a scenario whereby the two are separate entities, gimme a break!

    IMAGINATION you either have it or you don’t, (Re: Tony Gilroy) likewise with TALENT, the two are married together and generally cultivated from early childhood onwards. Having a family and a mortgage is just an excuse, you either believe in your stories, your ability or you don’t. Look at the time you waste, carry a stopwatch and time how much time you waste in a month add it up and I’m sure you will be horrified. We all waste time, professional writers probably waste the most, if you cut out TV and some general socializing by fifteen percent and try and write a page a day, in a 120 days you’ll have a script, it might be a jumbled mess, but its a start, spend another month working on a page a day, slowly you will make in roads, but if the story is defunct from the onset, your just bullshitting yourself and that kind of practice is just living in a delusional bubble, sadly thats where a large percentage of wannabes languish.

    all the best

31. David Anaxagoras on Sunday: 6 July 2008|1638

    What are people really asking when they ask this kind of question? They’re looking for permission to follow a dream. The whole world is pretty much set against you if you want to something impractical like that.

    How did we get to this place, where dreams are so remote and unreachable that only the chosen few with a special birthright can reach it?

    Shame on anyone who would crush the hope of someone daring to dream.

    I don’t think it takes anything more than courage to be an artist. Everything else you already possess — talent, imagination, whatever you want to call it.

    It may be withered by atrophy, and the road ahead may be arduous. But the only thing that can stand in your way is you.

    Everyone else can just shut the hell up and get out of the way.

32. Susan P. on Friday: 18 July 2008|0801

    I remember many years ago being placed in a position of needing to understand something I couldn’t. I simply could not understand the point of logic and set about seeking assistance TO understand. Someone finally explained in a way that was like an arrow into my cerebral cortex; I ‘got it’. Jumping concept chasms is a great learning experience. Brain free form.

    I’m not a dummy but I have found learning script writing really hard. REALLY hard. It is like moving my brainspace into a different gear. It’s like melding structure and creativity and common sense and another dash of imagination and willingness to risk.

    When I look at the work of others around me starting out, I see passion (more than not) but little brain. I see people pursuing some imaginative adoration but not ‘thinking’ about what audiences connect to and how structure actually aids the process of evocation and interpretation.

    I also see people thinking small. I often talk to people privately and they say “well, my script isn’t meant for anything more than my state film commission”..and…I kind of cringe. If that’s the way you think then I suspect you will always produce minor and unfulfilled works.

    I’ve stepped up my freelance work so I can pay for good consultancy and I am aiming high and because of that, I constantly press and push myself. Instinctively we (more often than not) know if our work is crap but half the time we fail to ‘hear’ that and respond. Don’t accept second best of yourself and you will be more likely to sense your own level of talent.

    Talent I suspect is a function of that word IMAGINATION, willingness to suspend the ego and accept honest hard critique, not being precious, understanding the technical issues, understanding socio-political issues, and being able to find new edges to well known themes.

    And being alert and allowing information to ‘kick in’. I read one thing on this site that led me to go back and rework a section of my current step outline. I intend to spend 4 months on a step outline before I even start on a script proper. When I move beyond basic learning I may be able to short circuit this but, for now, hard work and slog is part of the process. In early learning, perhaps this is good as ‘talent’ gets. ?? :)

33. bamboo stalks Susanne on Thursday: 12 November 2009|1618

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