We often talk about why a story is good or elements of storytelling that can be used to enhance a story, but what about good traits that a writer can can have that, in time, will benefit their stories overall? For example, a writer who takes criticism from others, or a writer who goes out and has experiences that gives them inspiration.
Apr '22
Jun '22
Someone who shows mastery of the English language. Someone very well educated. Someone who can really tap into timeless, universal themes of the human condition.
For me, good writers follow consistency in their stories, and when they made rules they make sure they didn't shatter those established ground rules for a plot.
Someone who cares about others. ^^ Like, you don't necessarily have to possess empathy, you just need to be curious and considerate and willing to learn about the experiences of people who aren't you. I think that is one of the qualities of great writers, because it allows you to make fantastic, compelling characters.
Not having a giant ego. I feel like this is the pitfall of some popular authors, they suddenly think they are better than everyone else because they have a New York Best Seller.
A writer should be humble and even supportive to smaller/newer writers. Especially if someone asks for help with their messy writing, don't be snotty about it.
A good writer has taken time to live, interact with people, and build up a repertoire of experiences to draw from.
They have something worthwhile to say, write with purpose, and have enough self-control to cut out redundancies that don't contribute to that purpose or worthwhile "something" in some way.
I think many bad stories are bad because the writer writes for self-indulgent reasons, sacrificing their story and characters to do so.
not losing the plot, remembering what the rules of your story are, and not breaking them.
Even the biggest Hollywood movies are guilty of this one
a willingness to talk to people about lifestyles you haven't lived, and ask for constructive criticism
Persistence, writing's hard, you're probably gonna go through many many drafts of your story, have a lot of writers block, you might even want to give up but you have to be persistent
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shouldnt this be in the writing forum?
A good writer understands criticism and doesn't bark whenever they get negative reviews. Also someone who's able to improvise on the spot.
I think it helps to have lived a little & also maybe to be unafraid you'll appear uncool. When I tried to write in high school it sucked. I now think maybe it was because I was only trying to imitate what I'd read. I hadn't had enough experience with letting my own feelings out to be able to invent characters who could put them into words.
I think something that's tangential to things brought up so far is you need to be willing to experience. It's good to have your comfort zone of things you like, but be willing to read things outside that zone, experience things you might not normally go for. It's just as important to understand what works for you as well as what works for others.
Example: I don't like romance, it doesn't do much for me, and I have no interest telling those stories. There's nothing wrong with that but I understand that those kinds are stories are ones others want to tell and want to read. By reading those kinds of stories, talking with others about them,and learning what people see from those stories helps me write better character relations,even if not romantic relations.
I think traits of a good writer are inseparable from traits of good writing. Even if you're unwilling to take criticism, or closed off from new experiences, or have a big ego or look down on others (the latter two are different traits btw), you can still write a sincere, evocative, tightly woven, well paced story with likable characters and that makes you a good writer.
There are correlations, of course (for instance, someone who's unwilling to take criticism is more likely to write something incoherent and adhering only to whatever they're feeling are at the moment instead of some focused direction), but it ultimately still ties to the traits of a good story. In general, I like separating the creation from the creator :]
Someone who is willing to put in the work to finish a story and is willing to improve it for the better.
There are a lot of people who want to be a writer, but it takes a lot of self discipline to see that vision to the end especially if it's a big project. And often it doesn't end there- there's a lot of editing and improving that can be achieved if a person is willing to look at their own work critically.
Self-critique is very important in my opinion.
Yeah, I think you listed two pretty important ones: criticism and lived experiences. As a note about experiencing life, I don’t think necessarily means traveling the world or trying everything once. Rather, I think as we grow older, develop passions and careers, we learn how the world works and how people behave. I think this is important for developing characters and a world that feels “real”. Understanding how laws, money, and businesses work is important for understanding how to make realistic variations of those societal rules.
I super agree with this answer! 
🏻 Absolutely empathy is important. Unfortunately this usually requires talking to people, which usually requires putting on pants and leaving the house, so that sucks. 
Omg yes!!! I had this revelation a year ago that transformed my writing. I realized I shouldn’t try to create this perfect, “good” book that followed all the rules I’d learned and copied the greats (according to me greats at least). I just decided to write what I thought was fun to me and it frees me from this stress of being “great”. Now I just try to write something that I enjoy reading and it usually works out alright.
A good writer never loses sight of the purpose of what they're writing.
If they write advertising copy, they understand that the aim is to highlight the best features of the product to the specific sort of audience they're aiming for.
If they write literary fiction, they understand that they should create a powerful experience that makes people think and show off their mastery of the written language.
If they write popular fiction, they understand that they should use accessible vocabulary and write a short, tight story that delivers on the expected tropes of the genre they're in and entertains the reader.
Bad writers get too wrapped up in themselves to think about the audience. They'll let their favourite scenes drag on and waste the reader's time to indulge themselves, they'll use inappropriately fancy vocabulary to show off how clever they are and exclude ESL readers on a popular light fiction focused platform with international readers like Tapas and when people don't read their work, instead of looking at whether what they're making and how they present and market it is appropriate to the audience, they blame the audience like, "Oh, they just can't appreciate my art because they're too stupid!" or they blame the platform like "Hmph! Tapas is trying to hide my work because it's too clever and challenging!" It's all about me, me, me.
