Amateur writers are an odd bunch. Just listen to them sometime and you’ll see how true that is. Mostly, they don’t understand what it takes to be a writer and a lot of them have some very bizarre ideas about what writing is like.
Therefore, I want to provide what I think are ten characteristics of successful writers, things that you really need to have on your side before you get into this, otherwise you’re just courting disaster. So let’s get started, in no particular order, because none of these are pick-and-choose.
Keep in mind that these are not the only things that a writer needs, nor that are helpful to being a writer. Writing is hard. I say that in every article but it’s absolutely true. This isn’t something that you decide to do on a whim one day, not if you actually want to get anywhere. It’s something that takes time to develop and skill to carry off. There are no shortcuts and no one has a magic wand to make it happen any easier. Anyone who thinks that’s the case, they need to check out right now because they will get nowhere fast.
Anyhow, on with the list:
Thick skin: Writers, whether they like it or not, need a thick skin because sooner or later, you’re going to get attacked. This is true of all creative-types. People aren’t going to like your art. They are going to hate your music. They are going to detest the things you do and, like it or not, they’re going to tell you so. Sometimes, these people are wrong. Sometimes they are not. It really doesn’t matter. You need to be able to stand up to the slings and arrows that will be coming your way because, if you can’t, you’re going to crumble to pieces.
Self-motivated: No one is going to stand over you with a whip and force you to write. Writing, like most creative fields, is a solo venture. You have to do it because you want to do it. It’s why so many people fail because they only want to write when inspiration strikes or the motivation fairy deigns to pay them a visit. That’s not how it works. We write because writing is what we do. We write whether we want to write or not. There are days I get up and I just don’t feel like it. I write anyhow. I have goals and I hit those goals consistently. I don’t allow myself to fail. All of that comes from within. There is no one out there who is going to make you do it. That’s all on you baby. Get to work.
A voracious reader: Whether anyone likes it or not, you can’t be a good writer if you are not a voracious reader. While I suppose it is possible to force yourself into this later on in life, I am convinced that most of it comes from reading from a young age. Reading teaches you how to write. It teaches you how to tell stories. It tells you how to structure a book and how to pace a story. It teaches you vocabulary and sentence structure and the proper use of grammar and punctuation. Far too many people just think that comes naturally and they are wrong. You need to learn it between the pages of good books. So get to reading.
Here’s a bit of a tangent, perhaps an eleventh requirement, and one that a lot of people simply don’t like. If you don’t have the skills to properly use language, you’re never going to be a good writer. Ever. I don’t care how many programs you have running in the background, you need to know how to spell, use proper grammar, properly capitalize, understand sentence structure and get your ideas down on “paper” properly. If you can’t, just give up now before you embarrass yourself.
Self-starter: Similar to self-motivated, but this is really how writing begins. Sitting down and staring at a blank page and trying to imagine how you’ll get from there to 100,000 words and the words “THE END” is hard. Yet a lot of people do it every single day. A lot of us do it multiple times a year. It can be done, lots of people do it, but only if you’re willing to put your ass in a chair and get yourself working. Then, being able to motivate yourself to keep going gets you through the long haul to the end. These two go hand-in-hand but both are necessary.
Organized: I know there are messy writers out there but I’ve never been able to understand how they get anything done. This is both organization in mind and practice. Laying out a story is hard enough if you don’t understand where you’re going or how to get there or even what you’re trying to do. Yes, there are some people who can run off at the fingers and, through trial and error and many, many, many versions, whip it into something readable. Just because some people can somehow manage it, that doesn’t mean you can too. I’ve seen people who have no idea who their characters are, what they’re going to do or how they’re going to get there. They keep track on a million scraps of paper and lose half of them. This is not how to put together a detailed work of fiction.
A keen observer: This one surprises a lot of people, but I can’t tell you how many I’ve seen that have no idea how reality works. Their writing is stilted and unrealistic because they don’t comprehend people. They haven’t paid attention to how people behave, how they speak or how they interact. They have no concept of basic aerodynamics or how gravity works. They think they can just write whatever nonsense comes to mind and people are going to embrace it. They are simply wrong. If you want to write convincing prose, you have to know how the real world works. That doesn’t mean you can’t go off the reservation here and there, that’s what fantasy and science-fiction do, but it has to be bedded in an understanding of how the real world works. Ignore this one at your peril.
Attention to detail: This is similar to being organized but it really goes beyond that so I included it as well. The author creates a world with words. They need to provide enough information for the reader to imagine what’s going on without overloading them with unnecessary detail. That’s a hard skill to master.
Dedication: This one should be really obvious, but if you don’t have the ability to keep working, you’re not going to get anywhere. I really get sick and tired of amateurs posting that they can’t write or they need others to inspire them or whatever. That’s not how this works. Every bit of that has to come from you. You have to want to write and be willing to put your ass in a seat and do it whether you’re “in the mood” or not. Writing is a job and nobody gives a damn if you want to go to work or not. You do it because it needs to be done. Nobody says it’s easy. It’s most assuredly not. Get your ass to work.
Patience: Like with most worthwhile things, writing takes a long time to get good at. Anyone who is expecting results tomorrow, they are going to be disappointed. The only way you’re going to get anywhere is through practice and it takes a long time to get in the number of words necessary to produce anything worth reading. As I’ve said before, the average age to publish your first book is 36. Why? Because it takes that long to learn how the hell to write. That doesn’t mean you start at 35. It means you start in your teens and work your ass off for decades on end to learn your craft. I go back to the famous words of David Eddings who called your first million words practice. “My advice to the young writer is likely to be unpalatable in an age of instant successes and meteoric falls. I tell the neophyte: Write a million words–the absolute best you can write, then throw it all away and bravely turn your back on what you have written. At that point, you’re ready to begin.” If you’re not willing to write an average of 6 entire books and throw them away because they suck, you’re never going to get anywhere as an author.
Ability to think logically: This might seem like an odd one but it is absolutely essential. When you’re writing, you have to make sense. Some genres are more essential than others, but ultimately, your readers have to comprehend what you’re trying to get at and if you can’t make sense and provide a logical through line in your story, you’re just going to fail. It’s how we plug plot holes. It’s how we fix inconsistencies. It’s how our characters go from place to place to place in a meaningful manner. If you can’t think logically, you won’t be able to write a cohesive story. It isn’t optional.
So that’s my list. Like I said, there are many other characteristics I could throw in there, but this is the list that came to mind. What do you think? Do you have other ideas on what writers need to be successful? Let me know in the comments.
