Why Being a Good Writer is a Lot Like Being a Jedi

I tend to hate Innate-Power stories. I mean, I can deal with it, as long as the weak guy becomes the powerful one against all odds. But I hate the idea that your capacity is based on what you were born with. It’s disheartening. It sucketh. Popular examples?…

Jedi Knights

“The Force is Strong with this One”

Cool, I’m born to be all powerful and crap. While everyone else is left to waste away their lives washing dishes or selling scrap parts. Yeah, I get it. Sometimes this happens in life. Some people are born with disabilities and they make it just fine. But I don’t like the idea that I can’t achieve something unless fate steps in.

I’m sure a lot of people have a fantasy about finding out that they are the prophesied “Chosen One” and, despite having spent your whole life doing nothing productive, you find out you have vast amounts of power locked away inside, if only you believe. Nah.

I get as getty as the next person imagining Luke Skywalker as the most powerful Jedi to have ever existed. It’s awesome. I love it. But it has nothing to do with what he was born with. My interest is that he made his way there despite having begun training so much later in life and learning everything with nearly no-resources. That is the part I love. It’s the person. Something that says “I can do it too” rather than, “Well, he was born with it.” I don’t know, maybe it’s maybelline.

IQ

Another, less Sci-Fi example is the IQ scores that everyone likes to flaunt as a badge of honor to proove how smart or capable they are. I have never had my IQ tested because I like living in a world where I can believe I am intelligent and nothing can prove otherwise. I like to think I earned what knowledge and capacity I have and not that a large portion of it was based on my born capacity for genius. Though, in all honesty, I would hold it as a medal of my own if I were to score high.

Jedis and Writers

Now to the point. There is a popular and fairly widely accepted belief that, to be a good writer, there is a part that you must be born with and can’t learn. Like the midi-chlorians are deciding the mightiness of your pen. I hate this idea. I hate working my butt off on my craft and wondering if the fates picked me to be one of their chosen Best-Sellers. May the gods of narrative grant me creativity and pithiness!

No.

I refuse to believe that any part of what makes a fantastic writer can only be gained through “nature”. I believe, of course, that our personalities and dispositions may stop us from realizing certain facets of story telling or may hinder us from producing a piece of fiction loved by one and all, but I think that is a road block and everyone has them.

Some people can comprehend and figure out the writers puzzle faster than others. I believe a lot of this comes down to work and focus. A particular person may have the ability to get to the core of what makes a great story while others just figure out the symptoms and re-create that. But I’m here to tell you that there is no “Chosen One” among writers and you can become the most powerful Jedi, despite having a significantly lower midi-chlorian count than your evil father.

May the Muse be with you.

P.S. If there were a “Chosen One”, it would probably be Brandon Sanderson. The guy is brilliant.