The Qualities of a Good Writer: What are They Doing that You're Not? Part 3

In Part 1 of this little mini-series, we talked about how one of the best qualities of a good writer is that they take their craft seriously. They put as much effort into it as they would any other education or career.

In Part 2, we talked about how great writers can balance the creative and analytical sides of writing, switching between free artists and shrewd critics at will.

The most important qualities of a good writer are:

1. Taking your craft seriously

   1. Gaining a thorough knowledge of grammar and language

   2. Dedication and discipline

   3. A love of research

   4. Attention to detail

   5. Critical thinking and problem-solving skills

   6. Good time management

2. Balancing the creative and analytical

   1. Imagination and creativity

   2. Strong observation skills

   3. Organization and structuring of complex ideas

   4. Clear, coherent, and persuasive

   5. A unique voice

3. Having the right attitude

   1. Empathy and curiosity about human nature

   2. Self-awareness

   3. Open-mindedness

   4. Adaptability and versatility

   5. Perseverance and resilience

   6. Ability to take constructive feedback

Today, in this final part, we will talk about perhaps one of the most essential qualities of a good writer, and I will fully admit that I believe this out of bias. I am coming at this from the perspective of an editor who has had to work with many different writers.

Some good, some bad. Some great to work with, others a total pain in the ass!

So, what is this incredibly important quality we are talking about?

It's having the right attitude!

It is vital that you approach writing with the right attitude and mindset (and not just so your editor doesn't complain about you in a post like this.) Now, I have another article where I go into the 11 best strategies I could come up with for getting into that mindset, but in this one, let's talk about what that even looks like.

So let's jump right into it.

Qualities of a Good Writer #3: The Right Attitude

The attitude in which you approach your writing can really make or break your success. It paints how you look at failure. It paints how you approach learning and growth. It changes how you view your reader and what they are to you. And as far as I'm concerned, most importantly, it affects your relationship with the people on your team, like your editor, publisher, or agent.

All of these relationships are really important for your future success.

If people can't stand to be around you—they can't stand to work with you because of your attitude—it will be extremely hard for you to get anywhere.

In my opinion, this is the most significant difference between those who fail and those who succeed.

Now, we sort of already talked about attitude when it comes to how you approach your craft. You have to take it seriously. I won't get into it because you can return to part one of the series if you want to.

But I want to dig a little deeper into how you view what it is you do. I already said in parts one and two that you're not just a storyteller. You are a master manipulator of emotions. You are a tour guide taking your reader on a journey through the world you've created.

In the last post, we discussed having strong observational skills and paying attention to the things happening around you. Now, I want to talk about your motivation for doing so.

Empathy and Curiosity About Human Nature

I'm going to assume that you chose to be a writer not because you wanted to make a quick buck, cuz the gods know that's not going to happen, but because you are an empathetic person or perhaps you're just curious about some aspect of human nature.

You have some kind of affinity for discovering something about humanity. And I will argue that even if you think that's not true about yourself, it is on some level. I often talk about how writing is all about emotion, and to do it well, you need to be curious about what is at the root of those emotions and communicate that to the reader.

Really great writers have a solid and compelling reason for writing that stems from a need to understand something about humans or human behavior.

For instance, we have an author Rachel Llewellyn who wrote the horror short story collection Human Beings. That book is the best thing that we have published so far. It is so visceral and raw, and because of that and the emotional realism that she puts into it, it's honestly very hard to read, but it's so worth it.

"A dazzlingly dark and twisted collection, combining elegant plot twists with a brilliantly observed vision of depravity and evil." — Alan Bilton, author of The End of the Yellow House

But Rachel doesn't just write good horror. This subject obviously means something to her. It means so much, in fact, that she has dedicated her career to it, and I mean not writing horror but studying trauma and the emotions and behaviors underlying that trauma as it is seen through folklore, which is where she is focusing her Ph.D.

I won't speak for her because I don't know her real motivations for studying something like that or writing horror as she does. But I would make a good bet that at the core of it, her curiosity stems from wanting to understand that aspect of human nature.

You must have this curiosity too, and I know it's there. It might just need to be picked out of the weeds and focused on, but your writing will be much better when you find it.

You will find your purpose. Your writing will be centered around a single focus, making all the other things we've discussed or will continue to discuss in the rest of this post much easier.

But to do that, you must take on the attitude I'll outline next.

Self-awareness

Great writers know who they are. They can dig deep inside themselves and get to the root of their feelings and why they behave the way they do.

They aren't willing to accept the shallow form of fiction writing, which essentially goes like this: stimulus causes reaction, repeat.

When looking at the cause of what is going on in their story, say what a character is doing, they are willing to look much deeper and usually into themselves to find the answer to what's happening on the surface. And to do this, they must be honest with themselves.

They are sort of like scientists in this way. Scientists will not accept that just because two phenomena are happening simultaneously, they are causally related. Scientists know that correlation does not equal causation and that just because they see a correlation does not mean they have the answer.

But human beings are bad for that outside of science. We often feel an emotion, and whatever is happening around us at the same time, we assume that is the cause.

Average writers will unknowingly write that flaw into their characters. They will show their character having an emotion, and whatever happens to that character is causing that emotion.

And rarely do we see glimpses of characters that go deeper than that.

But if you regularly assess yourself and the real motivation behind what you do and feel, you will add that depth to your characters. So if you want to become a master writer—you want to continue to grow—then one of the best ways to do that is to grow inwardly and self-assess to get to the truth.

Then present that realism to your reader.

Human Beings: A Collection by Rachael Llewellyn

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Open-mindedness

Now self-assessment is fantastic, and I just told you why. But there's another aspect to having the right attitude, and that's not just the right attitude toward yourself and what you do, but the right attitude toward others.

Let me explain:

You need to be able to assess the behaviors of other people with different minds who've had different experiences and hold different beliefs and perspectives, with an open mind and objective attitude.

Because your characters aren't you, and your stories are usually not set in places where you live. You are writing characters with different beliefs and viewpoints. You do them and yourself and your readers a disservice if you are unwilling to honestly and authentically capture that individuality in your stories.

Being open-minded doesn't mean accepting everything. If I'm open-minded to other religions, cultures, or ways of life, that doesn't mean I need to accept them.

However, self-aware authors can open their minds to these different perspectives to understand them just as they want to understand themselves.

You don't have to live the life of a serial killer to honestly understand what is going on in a serial killer's head, for instance.

You need to put in the work, and if your main character is a serial killer, let's use the example of the HBO show Dexter, you are going to need to find empathy for them and make your reader find empathy for them, even when they're doing something terrible.

And a lack of cognitive flexibility in that way is, in my opinion, the number one reason for cardboard characters, the number one reason for stereotypical characters, and that tropes have become so dull because not many people are willing to dig that deep into others.

Improve Your Writing Skills

Getting them to dig that deep into themselves is hard enough, but exploring and understanding others is even more challenging, and most people aren't willing to do it.

Heck it, look at the world right now. We're losing that ability more by the day.

So do the world a favor and become a writer with an open mind. You don't have to agree with everything you hear or even be tolerant of it. But you should at least be willing to dig into it for the reader's sake.

Adaptability and Versatility

Speaking of the state of our world right now, this is nothing new. The world changes, society changes, culture changes, and people change. But that means that our industry changes too, which indicates how people view writing and authors will also change.

A good writer is adaptable. I don't mean adaptable in their values, views, or purpose of writing. But they aren't afraid of change.

Good writers don't get stuck in writing ruts. They don't get pushed into a corner or typecast.

They can adapt to many forms of writing. Their skill set is unbound by what they're doing at the time. They can write romance, they can write fantasy, they can write mystery, they can write plays or movies. Now, that doesn't mean they don't have to try to learn how to do those extra things if that's where they want to shift.

There's a big difference between writing a novel and writing a screenplay.

However, good writers have enough confidence in their skills and understand how to apply them to many things.

I'm also going to talk about AI and technology right now:

I don't have enough data to make a concrete statement about this because AI is too new.

But I am going to put my money on that in the future, good writers are going to adapt to the new technology. And that doesn't mean they will have AI write their books for them. Still, they will find a way to incorporate those technologies into their workflows so that they are more productive, they can write with better clarity, organize ideas faster, and ultimately come out with even better books.

So, if you want to continue to be a good writer well into the future, you will need writing skills and be adaptable enough to avoid being left behind technologically. Because those people who aren't willing to move with society will ultimately fall off it.

I can't tell you whether they will have a positive or a negative impact. I'm optimistic. But what I can tell you is that we're not going to go backward at this point. AI is here to stay.

This Katamari is gaining girth quickly; I don't want you to get stuck in it!

Perseverance and Resilience

All right, so after that little digression, let's get back on track.

One of the most important aspects of having the right attitude toward what you do is seeing it through. Too many writers just get so discouraged by writer's block or self-doubt that they cannot see the light at the end of the tunnel and give up.

And this isn't just true for writers; this is true for everyone. Even I've been there when it came to building this business.

Storytime:

I had the hardest time starting, and everything in my life seemed to be just trying to pull my focus from my business. I started in 2018 and discovered I was pregnant with my second around the same time. 5 months later, I separated from my husband and moved back to my hometown, now a single mom. My pregnancy was incredibly rough and resulted in 4 months of bed rest. The stress of having a newborn and working from home, covid, then my own health issues, eventually resulted a stroke.

So there's been lots of stops and starts with Bear Hill Books.

I want to mention this not for sympathy. Honestly, I don't deserve it, and 85% of my problems are self-induced. Even so, I'm proud and grateful for the last 5 years, probably the hardest in my life. I didn't give up on my business and didn't stop writing, even if I needed to take time away to regroup. I always came back.

Actually, this is where my tagline "keep writing" that ends nearly every blog post came from. When I had my stroke, I skipped like a broken record, repeating "Keep writing, keep writing" over and over.

And you know what? I did.

Now, I have a new purpose in what I do. "Growth for Writers" (the category you are reading currently, btw) would never exist if I didn't go through those things firsthand and come out the other side intact.

Oops, I guess I got caught in another digression, huh? Last one, promise.

But you have to realize that everyone has these moments, no matter what you're doing, your goal, or what you're trying to succeed at.

And with fiction writers, these moments can be pretty rough emotionally. Because, as I said, writers are creative and often emotional people. So the setbacks that get in their way seem to hit them twice as hard.

The ones who succeed in the end can push through those feelings of self-doubt, boredom, or fear. And they can stay single-focused on one thing and keep doing it for a long time even when they have no positive feedback.

With writing, as you work building your skills and you pour your heart and soul into completing this manuscript, there is a long time before you will ever get any positive feedback. And even after finishing the book, there's still a long road ahead before you'll ever get that validation.

So hands down, without a doubt, good writers are the ones who understand it will be a long process. They will have to push through many obstacles to get there. And some may not get there for a very, very long time.

Which can also be scary if you got into the game late. You might think that there's not enough time. I wrote a post just for you if you're one of these late bloomers who didn't discover their love of writing for a while. So if you want to find out why there is still time for you, check out this post here.

This is why I think it's so important to have a purpose and to find meaning through the act of writing rather than the outcomes of writing because those outcomes if they ever come at all, are not coming anytime soon.

And when they do, it might not exactly be the kind you were looking for.

Ability to Take Constructive Feedback

Oh, here we go!

This one gets to me because it is the one that is not only the difference between a good writer and a lousy writer, but it is definitely the difference between a good client and a terrible client.

To continue, you may have to wait a while before getting honest feedback on your writing. When you finally do, a lot of that feedback might be good, like positive reviews or even a bidding war for your book amongst publishers.

But more likely, you will get a lot of negative feedback, or at least you'll notice a lot of negative feedback (that doesn't mean it actually outweighs the positive, you just focus on it more). These can be bad reviews, negative comments from beta readers, or critical suggestions for what to change from your editor.

I'm going to make this quick and concrete for you:

If someone has a critical note on your writing or your book, that does not mean they are right. However, that means you have something that must be considered.

An editor's suggestion may not be the right suggestion for you. But it would be best if you at least considered that they are right. Critically look at your work, remove any emotions from the equation, and come to a logical and objective decision on whether or not this person, be it an editor, reviewer, or friend, might be on to something.

Too many writers—I should rephrase that—too many doomed-to-be unsuccessful writers put their ego first ahead of their book.

Nothing should be put ahead of your book if you want to be a successful writer. Not sales, not marketability, not ego, nothing. The only thing that matters is the story you tell and if you are telling it well. Make it good.

Do not worry about anything else except whether or not you have written a good book. And constructive feedback is a massive part of gauging whether or not you have written a good book.

Once your book is completed, fully edited, has a binding on it, and is being distributed by whatever means you choose, only then should you be worried about the extras.

Make it good, and you make the rest easier anyway. It's much easier to sell a good product than a shoddy one (at least over the long run).

Series Summary - The Qualities of a Good Writer

Now we've talked about a lot of stuff in this series. The qualities of a good writer are many and encompass a wide range of skills and attributes. We have discussed three main qualities I have come across in my 10-plus years of editing fiction.

Good writers need to take their crafts seriously. They will do that by learning and understanding the basics of their art. They will demonstrate dedication, discipline, and good time management and give themselves a strong foundation.

Good writers will also balance the creative and analytical aspects of writing. They will tap into their imagination and cultivate strong observation skills. They pay attention to everything happening around them and can organize complex ideas and communicate them persuasively, all while staying true to their unique voice.

Good writers also exhibit the right attitude. They are empathetic, curious, self-aware, and adaptable. They will persevere and show resilience no matter where the industry goes or where their purpose takes them. And lastly (and I think most importantly), they are willing to embrace constructive feedback that's vital for their growth and improvement.

By focusing on these qualities, I believe that you, too, can elevate your writing and make a lasting impact on readers.

Next: Write What You Know?