The question I am posing this week is this;
As writers, does it serve us better to be an expert – an absolute genius within a limited field…
…or a multi-skilled ‘Jack of all Trades’?
Having asked that, I will immediately concede that in order to write non-fiction and instructional works, a high degree of skill or expert knowledge is desirable. But what about we writers of fictional works?
It took me a long time to reach my own conclusion on this. Throughout my twenties and thirties (oh, such a long, long time ago) I harboured a mild, jealous resentment towards those who constantly excelled in their field of choice, grudgingly wishing them well whilst questioning those that administrated the Universe why it was that I struggled to master tasks, gaining only a limited skill (consistently in the top 1/3) in anything that I attempted. I had immersed myself in many disciplines (mechanics, electronics, motor racing, sketching, painting, computer programming and numerous others) during those distant sepia-tinged decades, emerging each time without the satisfaction of having truly mastered the necessary skills.
It took me a long time to realise that whilst I couldn’t proclaim myself to be fully skilled in anything I attempted, I was able to turn my hand to a great many tasks – and take some pride at being reasonably competent at most of them.
Then I remembered a story my father told me about a pathologist he’d worked with. The man in question was an expert in human anatomy. He could dissect a body and proclaim cause of death without error time after time. Often he could estimate the cause before he’d even touched the body (no, really!). He would teach class after class of young proto-pathologists, leaving them staggered and wondering how they could ever match up to this great man.
He was an undoubted expert in his field.
But one day, following some car trouble and a rather large repair bill, he took my father (a mortuary manager and owner of a series of self-maintained cars at the time) aside, showed him the mechanic’s invoice and in a low voice he asked; ‘What exactly IS a spark plug?’
It turned out that he was super-brilliant, but also limited in scope.
I have since learned to content myself with the notion that whilst I know very little about a great many things, I do know about a great many things. The difference here is that, like a contestant on ‘Who wants to be a Millionaire?’ one who still has their ‘phone-a-friend’ option, I know that there many people, reference sites and numerous sources of information available to me in the world today.
I don’t need to be expert in any particular subject – I just need to know that the subject exists and where to find out about it. Then I can research it thoroughly enough to weave the facts discreetly into a story.
I have finally concluded that knowing even a little about a great many things is a very useful position to be in.
Makes me wonder if I’d been born with an ‘expert’ brain – would I have ever embraced writing?
How do you view this? Are you particularly skilled and able to use that skill to your advantage in your writing? Or are you happy to be a ‘trawler’ like me, sweeping the internet for information, happy to leave the specialism to other people?
I’d be very interested to know if I’m alone in this…
.
Write on!
LAMarcom
Feb 21, 2014 @ 05:29:55
‘What exactly IS a spark plug?’
I know a little about a lot. I know a lot about a little (mostly about aquariums and working in war zones. Oh, and Lenny Bruce.
Spark plugs and cars: nothing.
Regarding spark plugs… the “what exactly is….” sounds like a great title for a blog one of us should write. Hurry! I may steal it before you can write it!
Cheers,
Lance The Texan, who knows just a lil’ bit, but is also a fountain of useless information about things no one seems to care about.
*sigh*
Great post.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Feb 23, 2014 @ 01:01:54
Lance
Oops… for the anecdote exposing your one weakness in vehicular mechanics. It does prove the point that we all know something about something different. and that gives us the opportunity not only to write about what we know, but to expand each others’ knowledge (and entertain) at the same time. 😀
LikeLike
fortyoneteen
Mar 14, 2013 @ 11:20:14
You’re not alone Mike, I’ve always known the most random information, somehow it goes in there and sticks. But when it comes to memorising or mastering anything I am supposed to know, you know, like grammar, mulitplications, geography etc. Forget it! I do get gealous of those masters but in the end, I am happy to be a jack.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 14, 2013 @ 20:21:43
My mind is like a scattergun pattern of trivia. Fortunately, some of it acts like seeds, growing into small shoots of knowledge, whose rootlets can link together to form something useful…
LikeLike
fortyoneteen
Mar 15, 2013 @ 04:44:12
That’s a great way of looking at it! I guess useless information is really only useless if it’s never used. And writing can sometimes call for the craziest little details to bring a character or scene to life. Interesting.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 15, 2013 @ 07:44:48
There’s many a personality quirk that has found it’s way into my work – some of them were my own. Not every quirk survived the first draft, but that’s editing for you…
LikeLike
Michelle Proulx
Mar 13, 2013 @ 16:40:04
I think fiction writers have to be multi-talented by definition. Constructing a world and populating it with interesting characters isn’t really something you can be an expert in — you have to draw inspiration from all aspects of life to create something that other people will love and re-read over and over.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 13, 2013 @ 20:37:36
Good point – we are casters of a very large net…
LikeLike
marlarosebrady
Mar 13, 2013 @ 15:47:11
I find that I have always been a ‘trawler’. I was fired from my college newspaper after they asked me if I had “ever read a newspaper”. I pushed and tried to become a journalist, only to learn that journalists aren’t creative people at all. I like the path that I am on now. I enjoy it more. There aren’t any boundaries, there aren’t editors breathing down my neck telling me my creative vision. In some ways, it’s better.
My mom is reading the manuscript I currently wrote, and its exciting to hear her get into the story. I think that matters more to me than a bunch of other people reading it sometimes.
Plus, I am currently reading your work, and I think its great! 🙂
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 13, 2013 @ 20:39:43
Once your mom has finished and you have applied what she’s suggested (if it feels right – remember, it’s YOUR story), send it out to some beta readers to get their views. Family members do not always make the best reviewers…
Great? Why, thank you! 😀
LikeLike
marlarosebrady
Mar 13, 2013 @ 20:51:45
That’s a good point. LOL, I am sure all moms think their children’s work is fantastic—which is what makes the best reviewers in some way. LOL. Currently, I am working on the first whole, edited draft. Then from there, I plan on going in and doing another draft….I am far away from getting it out there, but what can you do?! LOL.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 13, 2013 @ 20:58:41
That’s great news – so many writers fail to get that first draft down. Now that you have something that is complete, you can build on it. Many drafts may follow. I won’t frighten you by saying how many I went through…But each draft should be a noticeable improvement on the last. Remember to keep a copy of each before you make any BIG changes though.
Moms and relatives are often too kind and don’t say what really needs saying for fear of upsetting their kin.
LikeLike
marlarosebrady
Mar 13, 2013 @ 22:03:37
It’s so so so true. You are right. More editing!!!!
¸¸.•*¨*•*´¨)
¸.•´¸.•*´¨) ¸.•*¨)
(¸.•´ (¸.•` ¤ Thank you!
LikeLike
greenembers
Mar 13, 2013 @ 14:18:10
My opinion is it is different for each person. You have to find what fits us, so to speak. I am more like you, a Jack but other people I know are the Einsteins. I wouldn’t say one is better than the other and both serve their purposes.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 13, 2013 @ 20:40:30
I agree – we can’t all be the same and we are all part of that great puzzle that is humanity.
LikeLike
Jacqui Murray
Mar 13, 2013 @ 14:03:47
What a great question. I’m curious about the answers you’ll get. I know that adage–write what you know–but it would leave us writers with a very narrow scope within which to create characters, plots, settings. I got for aggressive research so I feel like I know the topic. Google Street View is my favorite for settings.
But, my fiction always has a strand of my ‘expertness’–geekiness–in it. I can’t stop myself.
LikeLike
Andrew Toynbee
Mar 13, 2013 @ 20:49:18
We can write what we know, but we can also weave in strands from other subjects and even other genres – as long as we have even an inkling that they exist. Aggressive research can produce some unexpected ideas – it’s true. I decided to check into a simple name-reference one of my characters made (they do that, don’t they?) and uncovered a wealth of new information. 😀
Google Street-view provided me with many of my plot possibilities as I was First-Drafting. I later visited the actual places, but GSV gave me a great head-start.
I have to restrain my ‘geekiness’ otherwise I over-develop a particular aspect. I deleted several paragraphs where I’d ended up going into a lot of detail about a tumbling satellite (The ‘Black Star’ in ‘A Construct of Angels’).
LikeLike