TALENT HUNT

by Rob Lopresti

This week I have one question for you and a whole lot of answers. The answers have nothing to do with the questions, but, hey, you can’t have everything.

Here’s the question

Sometimes I hear someone say, approximately, “I’d love to write, but I don’t have any talent.” (It could be sing, or paint, or dance, but for this blog we will stick to writing.)

What exactly do they mean by “talent?” I think they mean “the ability to write.” But then we can reduce the sentence to “I can’t write because I can’t write,” which is not very informative..

Maybe it’s shorthand for: “I can’t write because I lack the ability to create interesting plots, develop fascinating characters, etc.” But it seems to me that when people talk about talent they mean something more than that, something beyond those technical things. We seem to talk about talent as if it were a mystical thing that underlies all those abilities.

We have all heard people complain of someone “she wasted her talent,” or “he had such gifts, but he never used them.” James Thurber satirized this in a story called “Something To Say,” about a man whom everyone assumes would be the best writer of his generation — if he ever wrote anything – just because he had the arrogant, impossible temperament of an artistic genius. Again, that seems to be turning talent into something different than ability.

I wonder if this is tied to the Biblical use of talent: a measure of weight and money. In Exodus a man who had a talent could put it on a scale and trade if for goods.

So, as I said, here’s the question: What do you mean when you talk about talent?

And here are some answers

Specifically the answers to last week’s quiz. Enjoy.

1. A walker at an easy pace, or an author of espionage novels. (Eric) AMBLER

2. A formal dance, or an author of police novels. (John) BALL

3. A child’s toy, or an author of comic burglar novels. (Lawrence) BLOCK

4. A section of theatre seats, or an author of novels about a game warden. (CJ) BOX

5. A mark on cattle, or an author of British police mysteries. (Christianna) BRAND

6. A candlemaker, or an author of private eye fiction. (Raymond) CHANDLER

7. A young person, or a British author of thrillers set in the U.S. (Lee) CHILD

8. A religious symbol, or an author of mysteries set in academia. (Amanda) CROSS

9. An aquatic animal, or an author of Sherlock Holmes parodies. (Robert L.) FISH

10. A resident of northern Belgium, or an author of spy novels. (Ian) FLEMING

11. A deep cut in flesh, or an author of mysteries about antiques. (Jonathan) GASH

12. A high place, or an author of British Bolice novels. (Reginald) HILL

13. A swampy area, or an author of police novels. (Ngaio) MARSH

14. An officer in charge of prisoners, or an author of Asian police novels. (William) MARSHALL

15. A cocktail, or an author of legal thrillers. (Steve) MARTINI

16. A pestle, or a pioneer of female private eye novels. (Marcia) MULLER

17. A type of paper, or an author of comic mysteries. (Craig) RICE

18. A dark ale, or an author of private eye novels. (Rex) STOUT

19. A male suitor, or an author of novels about gambling. (James) SWAIN

20. A pleasant surprise, or a pioneer of police procedurals. (Lawrence) TREAT