What makes us good writers?

[osho]

To be a writer one has to keep on writing and writing and writing. It is not easy to be writers and it asks us of our most of time and it drains us of everything, sapping us everything. And to write is something is to realize one's potentials for something. Writing and particularly writing pieces of Literature is not so easy job and one has to read immensely since there are many schools of thought in literature and one has to rise over and above all of them to give the reader the feel of newness, innovativeness, inventiveness and the like.
There are writers, poets and the like who do their jobs immaturely and when I read their poems I cannot find beauties in them and all they do is keep on rhyming their amateur poetry. Rhyming does necessarily is poetry and writing is like decking somebody with jewels only. It is the jewels one looks for in a bride it is her beauty, inner quality and the like.

[cafolini]

Looks like you are getting ready to be a good writer. LOL

[AuntShecky]

To be a writer one has to keep on writing and writing and writing.

And reading and reading and reading.

[islandclimber]

And reading and reading and reading.

^This. Possibly even more important than the writing itself, at least to begin with.

[hillwalker]

Your rambling post supposedly explaining what it takes to be a good writer suggests you have a long way to go before achieving this status so I'm not sure why anyone should take your comments seriously.

It's simple - spend five hours reading for every hour you spend writing.

H

[Ecurb]

Avoid writing "good writers". Here Henry Tilney (aka Jane Austen) inveighs against the overuse a similarly meaningless word: "nice". Unfortunately, this battle has been lost. Catherine Morland is walking with Henry and Eleanor Tilney, and begins:

"Not very good, I am afraid. But now really,
do not you think Udolpho the nicest book in the world?"

"The nicest--by which I suppose you mean the neatest.
That must depend upon the binding."

"Henry," said Miss Tilney, "you are very impertinent.
Miss Morland, he is treating you exactly as he does his sister.
He is forever finding fault with me, for some incorrectness
of language, and now he is taking the same liberty with you.
The word 'nicest,' as you used it, did not suit him;
and you had better change it as soon as you can, or we
shall be overpowered with Johnson and Blair all the rest
of the way."

"I am sure," cried Catherine, "I did not mean
to say anything wrong; but it is a nice book, and why
should not I call it so?"

"Very true," said Henry, "and this is a very nice day,
and we are taking a very nice walk, and you are two
very nice young ladies. Oh! It is a very nice word
indeed! It does for everything. Originally perhaps it
was applied only to express neatness, propriety, delicacy,
or refinement--people were nice in their dress,
in their sentiments, or their choice. But now every
commendation on every subject is comprised in that one word."

[osho]

Your rambling post supposedly explaining what it takes to be a good writer suggests you have a long way to go before achieving this status so I'm not sure why anyone should take your comments seriously.

It's simple - spend five hours reading for every hour you spend writing.

H

I am not suggesting, advising or counseling you or anybody. I am expressing things randomly, all that sprung up within myself spontaneously. Everybody has an opinion and I did it as it popped up inside me. No opinions are flawless, and totally suggestive, and they are colored by individual quirks. When you say something it is out you own learnings, leanings, conditionings, programmings and the particular social or cultural backgrounds that are shaping our minds.

[osho]

Reading and reading and reading then writing and writing writing can carve out one's path to achievement.

[Steven Hunley]

Reading and reading and reading then writing and writing writing can carve out one's path to achievement.

The general consensus seems to be that it takes a combination of being well-read, and devotion to learning one's craft. I think so too.

[osho]

The general consensus seems to be that it takes a combination of being well-read, and devotion to learning one's craft. I think so too.

I agree with you without the littlest reservations at all and the fact after all it is the craft that matters more than anything and it is a given and history is an evidence

[Raven Falcon.]

People in general do not hold writing in high esteem, for writing is an act most people in developed countries can perform with relative ease. That's one of the reasons why the masses --laymen and non-writers-- consider writing as a dull, unimportant, and all together ungratifying activity. Writing to them is not intellectually as challenging and rewarding as solving complex mathematical problems, engineering multifarious tools and machines, or theorizing the beginning and the end of the universe. To them, writing is not physically strenuous, aspirational, and thrilling as running in a marathon or swimming across a strait, cycling in Tour de France or various other tours, racing in the Formula One, Nascar, rally and the like, hiking hills and scaling mountains, bungee jumping from a plateau or the world's tallest buildings, skydiving from tens of thousands of feet high or even from space, piloting a submarine deep down into the deepest trenches and abysses, and undertaking various other endeavors. To them, artistically writing is not as imaginative, mind-bending, and audacious as other aesthetical activities such as sculpting a naked maiden, animating and rendering a visually rich and detailed CGI piece, painting an abstract or fantastical piece, or even photographing naked women in wild locations.
Also to them, writing is not a quick and easy way to accumulate wealth when compared to, well, enterprising in a business. Even singing or acting is more profiting in their eyes. Other functional activities like farming bring in not only profits, but also products.

To sum it up, modernity's condescending regard for writing is due the general, though unfounded, notion that writing is not challenging and benefiting enough to be held as a serious endeavor, whilst also not relieving and relaxing enough to be considered as a leisure activity.

[Raven Falcon.]

I apologize for what seems like a rant in the post above, and for not delineating my method toward becoming a good writer. Worry not, though, as I am going to share my view on this matter with you and other forumers. Included also is my writing routine.

Although in the post above, I insist that writing to laymen and non-writers in general is too easy to perform, thus explaining why it is not considered as a fruitful and praiseworthy endeavor, writing to me is a noble and benefiting act, however non-tangible the gain is. Hence, I have chosen to dedicate my life, at least the current stage, to art of writing, for to me writing is an art as much as painting or sculpting is an art. Writers can inspire people to act, and also ask them to ponder the human condition.

Leo Tolstoy inspired Gandhi, remember?

Of course, my stance that writing is an activity that no longer distinguishes one person from the lots yet stands.
BUT
Almost everyone can cycle, provided that he or she has a bicycle; those with two legs can run; those with a driving license can drive;those go to school can count; those who go to art school can sketch; those who go to acting school can act; and, those with a normal brain can think.

Yet, they still are common people. Writers consider themselves writers because they very well know that the pieces they have crafted are distinguished from laymen's writings in the aspects of meticulousness, expertise, and inventiveness. These qualities lift their crafts far above everyday pedestrian writing.

Following this, to be a good writer, or to work my way towards becoming one, I do this:

1) Read prolifically, even more so than write. Read both fiction and non-fiction, depending on what type of writer you are.
2) Write everyday, at least 250 to 500-word a day. You can write more if you have time. There is no upper limit.
3) Preferably, write a short but good piece than a long yet bad one everyday. Choose a serious topic, or experiment with a narrative technique.
4) Practice proofreading after every writing session.

[osho]

I want to swayed by the wind of passions and I take littlle care of English grammar and I know little of it since it is a foreign dimain and I know I cannot master it. I do not care whether I commit grammatical errors and which I do more often than not and compared with the rest of posters I tend to make more mistakes and yet I am sure my grammatical weaknesses do not make me an inferior writer any more. I keep onq writing in defiance of all authority

[Raven Falcon.]

Osho, see Grammar not as a set of rules to abide by, see it as a box of tools to manipulate. The greatest writers use grammar expertly. They know where and when to break its convention, and where and when to just abide by.