Often times, people think that they are bad writers because they believe that they can’t meet or exceed the standards for writing that most professional writers can. People who are considered genius writers are thought of as having God-given talent. However, most people don’t know that some professional writers learned to write the way that they do, instead of having writing talents that was given to them by god. Instead of thinking this way people should understand that in order to become a better writer they need to take the time to practice writing effectively.

In “Some People are Just Born Good Writers”, Jill Parrott discusses how many people believe that they are bad writers because they are not as talented as professional writers. This theory stems from “the so-called literary crisis” in the 19th century, proclaimed “that students entering American universities needed to become more familiar with their own language and coincided with a push to use our education system to build a uniquely American intellectual identity” (Parrott 71). After this claim was made, universities began including introductory writing classes into their programs, which led to the separation between good writers and bad writers. The people who were considered good writers (sometimes referred to as genius writers) were usually people “who were privileged to be of the right socioeconomic, national, or ethnic background” and were the same people who “wrote to the university’s standards” (Parrott 72).

This led to “good writers” being the “desirable students” and the “bad writers” being “less desirable students” because the bad writers didn’t write to the standards of the good writers (Parrott 72). And as the centuries went on, people started to believe that others (who created the writing standard) writing abilities were naturally gifted to them by god, but this was not true. However, Jill Parrott did not believe that this was the only reason for people thinking that they were bad writers, nor did Jeff Goins. Dr. Parrott supposed that bad writers continued to be brought about because many writers believe that they did not have the potential to become professional writers, since they often compared their writing to genius writers work, and they gave up easily, especially when the writing became challenging. Jeff Goins author of the blog, “The Difference Between Good Writers & Bad Writers”, agrees with Parrott’s idea of what a bad writer is. He feels that no one is born a bad writer, but someone is a bad writer if: they are overly confident in their work, doesn’t try to improve their writing capabilities, lets writing challenges stop them from improving their writing, and gives up because they fear that they might fail again. Although Dr. Parrott believes that people are bad writers because of the standards that society holds writers up to, and Goins believes that it is more of the persons fault as to why they are a bad writer, they find common ground when discussing ways to become a better writer.

Jill Parrott believes that the misconception that some writers are naturally good writers is harmful because it makes already “struggling writers” think that they don’t have the potential to be good writers and they frequently become ” frustrated because they cannot force their writing to look like what they expect art to be” (Parrott 71). This is what makes struggling writers give up and don’t try to improve their writing abilities. However, Goins believes that most writers are bad writers because “they’re afraid of putting in the work and failing” (Goins) .

During her essay, Dr. Parrott stated “Sometimes when I hear colleagues complain about student writing, my response is “But isn’t that why we’re here? Is it not our job to teach them?”” (Parrott 72). This is another reason that many students (and writers in general) tend to give up on writing because they feel pressured to write to the standards of their professors and peers who are deemed good writers. And when they don’t write at the level, or as good as their peers, they are criticized and readers complain about their writing.

Both, Dr. Parrott and Goins believe that people can improve their writing by learning to write effectively and changing their mindset about their writing, if they do these things it is not guaranteed that they will become a professional writer but they will have more potential in becoming a better writer. Dr. Parrott thinks that in order to become a better writer first writers need to “debunk the deeply held idea” that “only some lucky people are good writers”. This means that people need to understand that good writers are people that were once bad writers but improved by using effective writing methods. Goins thinks that people can become better writers if they keep writing when others don’t and “go the extra mile” when others won’t (Goins). He believes that you need to do your best to continue writing even when the writing gets tough. To add on, both Dr. Parrott and Jeff Goins feel that writers should write everyday and build habits that will help their writing increase improvement. Something like writing on Social Media will not help writers write their best but having ” Good writing instruction” will.

Jeff Goins and Jill Parrott both had their own opinions about what factors makes someone a bad writer, but they were able to find a mutual understanding when discussing what writers can do to become better writers. Dr. Parrott believed that society’s writing standards was the thing that impacted the myth of good writers having god-given writing abilities the most, while Goins believed that writers themselves were at fault for being bad writers. But, they both agree that writers can learn to write effectively and change their mindset about the way that they perceive their own writing.

       Work Cited

• Parrott, Jill. “Some People are Just Born Good Writers”, Bad Ideas About Writing, Edited by Cheryl E. Ball and Drew M. Loewe, West Virginia University Libraries Digital Publishing Institute,2017, 71-75.
• Goins, Jeff. “The Difference Between Good Writers and Bad Writers”