A great writer is not born. They are created out of sheer hard work, failures, rejections, and the ability to overcome those failures and rejections. These setbacks actually give them the grit and the determination to write further and great pieces of work. Here we have a list of few qualities that you can hone and develop to make your writing better than it is. After all, you never know, if you practice well today your books might end up on the bestselling shelves tomorrow
A few qualities that all great writers possess are good command over the language they write in, knowledge of grammar and punctuations, good organization and clarity of their thoughts, and finally a unique kind of style and tone of their writing..
Immense amounts of creativity
An author has creative juices flowing every moment of the day. That is not to say that they do not suffer from the occasional writers’ block. They do have their bad days, but they know how to derive creativity from the bad days too and know how to turn it into a good thing. They can whip out a story out of thin air- a misconception, it takes years of honing your creative self to get to that level of greatness- however, it is true to a certain extent for sure.
An eye for detail or a good power of observation
Imagination actually ends up being derived from observation. A good writer is also a keen observer. He or she can spot tiny nuances that normal people otherwise miss. And it is more often than likely that they will use the more quirky and fun nuances as a part of one of their characters. That is the mark of a good writer. They do not fail to observe the world around us. You can try it too. The characters you write about actually become more ‘alive’ when they are infused with human infections. Attention to detail is a trait that is shared by most good writers.
Clarity of thought and words
Writers often have to write about the most complex of characters, of experiences that they themselves haven’t been through. And they have to do it in the first person, in front of the whole world that is just waiting to judge and critique their new creation. Therefore, it is very important as a writer to have clarity of thought so that they can articulate the thought into clear words. Clear organization of thought is a must if you want to be a good writer.
Command over the language
Obviously, the most important quality of a writer is their command over the language they are writing in. It is not necessary that all writers are writing in their native language. It is quite possible for an Englishman or woman to write in French if they have good control over the language and they are familiar with the rules of grammar in that particular language. At the end of the day, whatever the writer is trying to convey by means of him/her writing has to be understood by the audience reading the book for the book to be ultimately successful in the market.
Knowing who your audience is
Knowing the audience who you are writing for is very important. It actually helps you set the tone of your writing as well as its style. More, importantly it helps you connect to your readers as a writer. A book that is meant for children between the age of 7-10 cannot have heavy words that are not understood by the age group. In case it does, your audience will not read the book and move to something that they can understand more easily.
Power of imagination
Sounds redundant, doesn’t it? Every writer must have a good imagination to write. However, having an imagination and having an imagination that can be translated into writings are two very different things. Therefore, it is very necessary to differentiate your imagination from the rest. Great writers thought different, ahead of the times and that is what separated them from the rest of the crowd. Also, no imagination is bad imagination if you don’t know what it takes to translate it into words. Because if it was good, then half the books in the fantasy genre would have never made it out to us.
Love for the craft
Last but not least, you cannot excel at anything that you don’t love. Same goes for writing. If you do not love writing with all your heart, you cannot be a good writer. Because without that love, you cannot actually write something that will end up making a difference in the world. And if it does not make a difference, it will just end up being one of the things that are as generic as it can be. And no one ever wants that.
Thus, now that you know the ‘secret’ qualities that differentiate a good writer from a great one, it does not seem quite that difficult, does it? The only thing that these writers have done right until they have actually achieved their goals is ‘constant perseverance’. And that, for sure, has not been without their fair share of rejections. Remember, JK Rowling, who had written the now nearly cult status books of Harry Potter had to face multiple rejections before Bloomsbury finally decided to publish the books- not without the warning that they might not actually work in the market.
