Generating ideas isn't some mystical talent that you have to be born with: it's a skill you can develop.

Creative thinking - in terms of idea creativity - is not a mystical talent. It is a skill that can be practised and nurtured.

History is another country and might be full of fascinating incidents and places to go visit - but as a destination for emigration, it has some problems!

Seeking is all very well, but holding requires greater talent: Seeking involves some luck; now the demand is for skill.

It would seem that you have no useful skill or talent whatsoever,' he said. 'Have you thought of going into teaching?

Many science fiction writers are literary autodidacts who focus on the genre primarily as a literature of ideas rather than as a pure art form or a tool for the introspective examination of the human condition. I'm not entirely at ease with that self-description.