I sometimes get asked random questions by my daughter's friends about being a writer, or about writing books.
"Where do you get your ideas from?"
"How do you get to be a writer?"
Stuff like that.
Today someone asked me a new question, and I was actually stumped for a second. Now that I've had a chance to think, I've got my answer ready.
The question was: "What kind of person can be a writer?"
My first thought, was 'anybody!' - but that's not actually true.
So here's my response.
10 Personality Traits Every Writer Should Have
1) You must find people interesting.
- Ultimately you will be writing about people, so you'd better be able to write about all kinds of people, be them good or bad, boring or interesting. Even if you are writing about fictitious animals, they'll have the personalities of people. If you don't study your subject matter, people, you won't be able to portray them well or fairly.
2) You should love reading.
- If you don't like reading, be it news articles, books, magazines, or poetry - whatever - then you won't be able to stomach all the reading that is involved with writing. You must read about writing. You must read other people's work. You must read your own work over and over again. If you can't stand reading, find another profession.
3) You should be observant.
- Are you the type of person who notices things other people don't? If not, if you're just breezing through life and don't really enjoy the details, then perhaps you should be something else.
4) You should be introspective.
- Are you asking yourself WHY you feel the way you do? Do you often wonder if you'd feel differently if you were in someone else's shoes? Are you constantly taking note of how some particular event or something someone said made you feel? And perhaps you are able to articulate that feeling onto paper? If so, then you're on target to be a writer.
5) You should be analytical.
- Not just of yourself, and other people, but of everything. Take a situation, break it down, roll it over, toss in ideas, dissect it, then write it out.
6) You should have a gift with words.
- You don't have to be GIFTED, but you should be able to put one word in front of the other and have them make some sense. A good (doesn't have to be great) grasp of the rules of the English language (or whatever language you write in) is extremely important. If your grammar stinks, your writing will too. Sorry. It's the truth.
7) You should have self discipline.
- If you are easily distracted, cannot keep on task, get bored really easily, and find any and every excuse not to sit down and concentrate, then you will not have the fortitude to sit down and write. Writing is a solitary job. You do it best when alone. If you can't get yourself on task, find a job where you have a boss to tell you what to do.
8) You should be able to rewrite.
- Don't "marry" your words. Be able to throw drafts away, start from scratch, move things around and rethink what you've already planned. Writing is rewriting. If you think what you've written is brilliant the first draft, you're wrong. Writer Rule #1: The first draft ALWAYS stinks. IT'S A FACT! Deal.
9) Are you able to take criticism?
- If you have the deep and dark desire to argue with people, and tell them they're wrong because they just "didn't get" what you wrote, and you get offended when people don't like what you've written, then you are not going to survive long as a writer. Writing is a subjective art. You can't please all the people all of the time. Think about it: did you like every book you ever read? Well, nobody else does either.
10) Can you stomach rejection?
- Agents, publishers, editors, journals, magazines, contests...You will be rejected a dozen times, times a thousand. If you are emotionally destroyed every time a rejection letter or email comes your way, or have visions of million dollar sales for every draft you write, you will have a very difficult time in the dog-eat-dog world of submissions. Every single writer, even billion dollar ones, have been rejected a hundred times or more. The trick is, they never gave up.
Can you think of any traits I've missed?
I hope this answers your question Kid Who Stumped Me Today.
Well done.
