We will now explore Seven characteristics that a budding or established writer should have.
This should be interesting, but understand that these may not be the only characteristics necessary, but many agree that these questions that you need to ask yourself are the most important.
Here goes:
It would be helpful if you have a passion for stories.
This doesn’t mean that you have a passion for books, newsletters, and the like more than having a passion for stories. You might simply love to contemplate or hear how words are woven into a fabric that forms a word tapestry that is appealing to potential readers. You might even have moments when you’re reading something, and then you have to reread it to make sure that what you read was what you thought you read, because the work was so excellently done. Your mind is likely constantly whirring, filled with all sorts of new ideas that could potentially be turned into stories.
You should be a creative person.
Of course, that goes without saying. Fiction writing is a totally different animal. First, you have to have a story that is embedded in your mind that you require a vehicle (your book or screenplay, for example) that will bring it to life! You should also have performed a lot of what I call “pre-work” to develop your fictional storyline and it’s history, including the characters, if you decide to become a fiction writer! It can be a fantastical story populated with those unique characters of yours. When we become fiction writers in this sense, we are “god” of the literary universe that we created! Sounds exciting, doesn’t it? I tended to daydream as a kid about something I wanted to write akin to the Chronicles of Narnia by C.S. Lewis with a Battlestar Galactica flair!
This was the moment when I began to believe that I could actually become a novelist. You can do the exact same thing! You can become a creator of a world that was not there before. I believe that I accomplished this with my Bermuda’s Secret series!
You need to make those charaters that are in your mind your “imaginary” friends.
If you are anything like me, then you probably have that inner voice whispering in your ear, telling you that the life you experience around you can be just such a story with a little creative tweaking! You might even begin to “be” your unique characters in your mind, thinking as you imagine how they would think about somebody you might have just met, or about your current surroundings. If you are like me, a fiction writer or an aspiring one, then you essentially live a mental “double life” with your unique characters and the fictional world that you created for them.
With this firmly implanted in your mind, you must find the fortitude to start!
That is the most important first step. It is not easy, but once you have started patiently laying the ground work as you write, you can fill in any gaps later. The most important thing is to get started! This can be unsettling at first, but once you gain traction, it will become much easier. Even though you might have planned your fiction book or book series, you still have to quit procrastinating or trying to talk yourself out of it and simply do it. Make no mistake, this is not easy, but if you are dedicated, you will spend long periods alone without anyone around to help. I know that members of my family rolled their eyes when I was working on my books, but I reminded them that it took time to pour everything locked in my mind into the written word! After all, books don’t write themselves. It is completely up to us!
You have to recognize your inner voice, and when you do, it must be compatible with who you are!
The only way that we can come to terms with our inner voice and become comfortable with it is by writing a great many words. I have developed a daily writing habit over the years, and it has truly served me well. Believe it or not, you can do this too! When this becomes that daily habit–be it 15 words or 15 pages a day, you will develop your own unique writing style, and once you do, writing your story will flow down onto the paper or computer smoothly, thus allowing you to “tell” your unique story instead of worrying about how to get it to write itself! This means that the habit becomes so ingrained that you will have no trouble cranking those precious pages out!
You have to recognize that there is a process to writing and you need to learn to embrace it.
Without a doubt, at first writing can be quite difficult. For some of you, it will be the hardest task that you will ever undertake. Not all people become writers and there is a reason for that. You have to have a passion for writing to be good at it! In fact, there are many authors who state that they write because they cannot seem to do anything else. Others say they write to pour their thoughts down on paper or whatever other medium that they employ, so it won’t be forgotten. It has been said that the written word can actually teach you more about yourself and the envronment surrounding you than you could possibly imagine. Just think about that for a moment!
Writing takes a lot of hard work, endless trial and error, and this means that you must take your time.
The ability to work alone is not easy. I have owned my own business for 31 years, and can attest to that. I started writing in earnest in 2015, but I wrote my first book in 1987 (there was a HUGE gap after that). There are certain disciplines when it comes to writing, but at the end of the day, many authors or aspiring authors learn in their own way. There are courses which can really teach you things, but if you are motivated and can discipline yourself to form that habit, then I would submit that they aren’t truly necessary! Set your goals, develop the habit, and, more importantly, write something every single day!
There are many more qualities you could and likely, should have, but these seven seem to be an integral part of any writer’s make-up. Of course, we are all different and what works for one of us might not work for others!
That’s it for now! KEEP WRITING!
