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What Makes A Good Writer? Let's see ->

 

 

#1.) You Have Life Experiences:


 

 

#2.) You Have A Wide Variety of Skills:


 

 

#3.) You Will Write Even For No Income:

 

 

#4.) Writing Is Something You MUST Do:


 

 

#5.) Starting An Article Is Always Fun:


 

 

 

#6.) Writing Is Therapeutic For You:

 

 

 

#7.) You Must Have A Unique Perspective Or Insight On Things:

 

 
 
#8.) You Get A "Strange Satisfaction" From Writing:


 

 

#9.) You Can Put Yourself Out There:


 

 

#10.) You're Hella Curious:


 

 


 
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P.S. What else do you think makes a great writer? Let us know in the comments!

 

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Great article Nev!

I especially agree with "willingness to put yourself out there."

I'm still not at that spot and get nervous about publishing writing.

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Well, Nev, these are some great characteristics, and you obviously know it.

One thing that I'd add to this list is "A good writer is also an enthusiastic learner [always]."

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Guest Yair Katz

Posted

great stuff.

I would dare say that a good writer is able to leave a piece of his writing, and then get back to it with a new fresh perspective.

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Guest Jon Gregory

Posted

Great article Nev. I think having the balls to develop a personal style that works for the writer is also key to longer term success. That can also mean that the writer will take a pasting every so often from the holier-than-thou stylists, purists and pedants. Having said that, I do think poor spelling, punctuation, grammar and structure etc. shouldn't get be allowed to get in the way of the reader's experience, but that's where they belong, not front and centre. Anyone can chop out a 'perfect' sentence or piece, it doesn't mean it's readable, interesting, valuable or worth the cost of the electricity to prop it up!
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A good writer needs to understand what audience feels and their needs.

Good script is defined by how easy is to read it and how convincing is it written.

Understandable? No! Just easy to read. A good text is always read multiple times :)

Cheers, keep up the good work!

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Guest Annie McGuire

Posted

Bravo Neville!  Great article, great comments.  I'm adding another one to the mix: compulsive reader.  Kinda' goes with Usha B's trait - enthusiastic learner.
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Guest Marlene Hielema

Posted

I have to say writing has always hurt my head. I find it a constant struggle. I do NOT enjoy starting an article. But I do enjoy revising.

To avoid writing I started making YouTube videos. I just started talking to the camera as if I was teaching a class. Over time I've learned to write outlines and scripts for my videos, because a more succinct and organized video gets more views and subscribers.

I enjoy your blog posts because you take the process down to simple steps. And you're very down to earth and you make me chuckle. Cheers!

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Guest Fiona Benjamin

Posted

"A 16 year old girl that’s been writing a personal blog for several years has a better chance of becoming a good writer than a business person wanting to get traffic to some content he puts out."

 

I'm putting this on a post-it note and sticking it to my fridge. THIS WAS ME!!! I started my first Xanga blog back when I was 13 years old and then migrated to Livejournal by the time I was 16. I used to write about emo bands, gossip about crap happening in my high school, and post cringy pics of my dogs. I don't have a degree or formal training in writing but I've been writing blogs for a decade and a half. Thanks for the vote of confidence. You rock!

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Guest Judith Norris

Posted

Hi Neville,

What a terrific article. Helpful as well. Add on informative too.

Get the idea, I really liked it very much!

Thank you.

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Guest Robert Goluba

Posted

Great points Neville.

I've thought about this in the past and here are a few more I'd add:

#11: Take the time to understand the target audience

#12: Understand the need for tension to keep the reader interested

#13: Ability to think conceptually. A little creativity to help the reader see something in a new light.

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Bahahha XANGA!! That was the jam :)

The fact that you've continuously written over all that time is a very valuable skill, and shows that you actually ENJOY writing rather than view it as an ugly chore.

Keep writing!

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Oh wow very cool website Marlene, your stuff looks super professional!

A lot of people who don't completely enjoy writing might actually like photography or video much more. There's something about that visual medium which appeals to them more.

I personally like all formats, but articles are my favorite since they are easiest to edit (whereas video is more cumbersome to change once the product is finished).

P.S. For a second I thought that mountain was digital and you were standing on a green screen :-P

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Thank you Annie! I was considering adding "Voracious Reader" as a trait, but for some reason I didn't think that was necessary in the last 10 years with the advent of YouTube and a bunch of educational videos.

However 10 years ago if you weren't a compulsive reader I would've agreed you could not be a good writer.

And I totally agree enthusiastic about learning would be a requirement :)

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Good point Aljaz! Breaking things down simply is an extremely important trait for a writer!
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Guest Marlene Hielema

Posted

Visual mediums definitely appeal to me more. But you're right, video takes a lot of skill, gear, time and energy. But I love that process so much. I find it very satisfying to finish and publish a video. I spend 8-10 hours on each video I produce. And then I have to write like heck for just as many hours to promote it ;) Go figure!
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Spot on, as ever Nev!

I would say this one could be put under 'life experiences' but I've found that there aren't many good writers that don't like reading. I don't mean, book a day type reading. Just in general reading. Also, reading is a great way to live more than one life, or at least get as close to that as physically possible.

Great post dude - thanks!

- B

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Thanks Neal! You might wanna try making a free Wordpress.com or Blogger.com blog at first, that's what I originally did back in 2004. It helped just write in private and get used to writing before publishing to an audience.
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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Thank you Usha! I agree with the enthusiastic learner quality, I believe it's just worded differently in the post as "Hella Curious."

Your way of saying it was far more eloquent though :-P

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Very true Yair. I frequently start writing something with great enthusiasm, then kind of "lose my way" on the article, and have to come back to it at a later day with a fresh new angle.

Good one :)

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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Very true, I think nowadays more than ever a personal style is extremely important. It's not CRUCIAL someone be wacky or weird just for the sake of it, but if you write enough you'll start developing what people notice as "your style."
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Guest Neville Medhora

Posted

Yeah a couple of people here have recommended "love reading" as one of the traits of a good writer. I think so long as the person is super curious (#10) and has a wide variety of skills (#2) they should be good.....the reason I didn't say reading is required is because I find myself physically READING LESS than in the last 10 years, but listening and watching FAR MORE podcasts and videos with educational stuff.

So as long as they are absorbing knowledge in any capacity that seems to fulfill the requirement :)

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Guest Kristan Braziel

Posted

Yes, yes, yes, 100 times YES! All of these! I agree that the last one - curiosity - is for sure the most important. The therapeutic impact of writing is a close second for me. I write a little every single day, and when I have a hard-to-answer decision I'm having to make, writing about it almost always helps me with my answer.  Thanks for another great post!
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Guest Jonathan

Posted

This is an interesting article.  I make a living as a writer and quite a few of these don't apply to me.  The one missing for me is that I wish I'd written more books.  Even though I'm prolific that desire drives me. I believe that we can gain immortality through our writing as people continue to read our words long after we are gone.
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