How did you become a great writer?

The thing is, no matter your chosen path in life, there will always, always, ALWAYS be someone better than you.

A couple of years ago I asked an author (who sells like hotcakes over here, he's like the UK Fantasy World's darling) if he would ever fanboy over anyone. Oh yes, he said. I would gush like anything if I met GRRM.

A couple of months ago I witnessed him meet GRRM, and this articulate, mature, fantastic writer looked like a deer in the headlights. I was too far away to tell if he gushed, but I think gushing was likely.

Everyone has another person they admire/thinks is better than they are. If they don't then...well...ego can be a terrible thing.

The thing to do is to learn to deal with it.

ETA: I have totally fangirled at Robin Hobb and would do it double time for CJ CHerryh

gettingby said:

How did you become a great writer?

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Unable to speak from experience, needless to say. In a way, no one is.

One doesn't become great at anything. One is born great or rather born with the potential to be great.

Few are. Maybe 1 in a million. 1 in ten or a hundred million would probably be a better estimate. That's just how it goes. The luck of the draw. Some hit the genetic lottery. Dostoyevsky, Clemens, Bronte, etc.

So I really have nothing to offer other than to say that it's best not to try to be great which will merely result in frustration. Settle on being good, instead, which is a tremendous accomplishment and one which will bring you very far in whatever endeavor you pursue.

My two cents of course.

gettingby said:

It's hard not to get discouraged and second guess myself. Sometimes I think I wrote something amazing, but then days later I think I suck, and it's really not because other people are better than me. I don't really know what causes this up and down mindset I have about my own work.

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I think almost every writer feels that way. I know I do. Like John Lennon said: "Part of me suspects that I'm a loser, and the other part of me thinks I'm God Almighty." I think that dichotomy is very common in writers and not necessarily a bad thing. Use it to motivate yourself to improve your writing, and don't let it overwhelm you.

I think you maybe should just recognise that this is how you work. Tell yourself that without that occasional feeling of inadequacy, you probably wouldn't push yourself as hard as you do. I know I struggle with it and while I strive to be objective, I would be lying if I claimed I always manage.

gettingby said:

This girl in particular has gone from good to great. I was just wondering how other people have done this.

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Have you asked this woman about the strategies she's used to improve her writing?

Great i would not consider myself, but the single biggest thing to help me as a writer?

Easy as fuck: a willingness to admit i may well be wrong. Writing is full of newbies who are brilliant, and too used to hearing it to actually listen to criticism. Not every crit is golden, and sorting them is the responsibility of the writer, but a LOT of folks arent willing to admit to, or address, their flaws. And so they never learn or grow.

gothicangel said:

By writing every day.
By reading everyday (fiction, non-fiction, quality newspapers, back of cereal-boxes.)
By studying human behaviour.
By having your work critiqued and critiquing the work of others.
By studying those more successful than yourself (YouTube is a great resource.)
By submitting work.
By having a life away from your computer screen.
By refusing to quit.
By reminding yourself that failure is impossible, only you can quit.

Rinse and repeat.

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I like this list.

I'm not a great writer, but I've defeated huge obstacles. I have a (mild) dyslexia. I'm not a native speaker. I've continued to write even though I've been crippled by the fear of never finding my own voice. With a full time job and nearly full time university studies, I don't have much free time. What I do have? Love for words, for stories, for people and places. That love keeps me going.

And I do compare myself to others. Sometimes I get discourage, but most of the time, I just get so excited, so happy, so incredibly amazed by the things people can write. I gush to my husband about the words I read, about characters who are so real I would like them to be my friends. I talk (or argue) about writing with my friends. I know when I need encouragement and when analytic criticism.

There's also one thing that affects my words: I take writing seriously. It's not a hobby. It's not just something fun I do. It's my way of expressing myself, and I want to tell stories that affect other people. I want to make people laugh through their tears. Sometimes I succeed, and sometimes I don't, but I never stop. I started writing exactly ten years ago. I will continue to do it for the rest of my life.

Terry Pratchett has said: "Writing is the most fun you can have by yourself." I think a part of that fun turns into magic on the page.

I know I'm sappy. Forgive me.

Greatness is something I know nothing about. However, I do believe that in order to be competent there is something of a cycle.

Many young writers have great ideas but the delivery is lacking. Often they are criticised about that delivery, and some take that on board while others adopt a degree of arrogance because they know their ideas are good. The latter rarely become competent.

As writers mature, they concentrate more on delivery, and often their ideas suffer as a result. They get bogged down in the 'rules' of writing. Their work suffers because they focus too much on certain things, such as 'show', don't 'tell' or plot conflicts. A balance is always needed, but when you obsess on the rules your freedom goes out of the window. Most will become better writers during this phase, but not as engaging as they could be.

The area when a writer could be viewed as competent is when they find their own style of delivery, and shift the focus back onto ideas. It's almost a period when they feel comfortable with what they do, when they stop comparing and concentrate on their 'thing'. I know I'll never write a classic, I'll never be on the best seller lists, but if I can amuse a few people with a similar sense of humour to myself, then I've done what I set out to do. Writing is not a competition, it's a creative process, and you must be content with what you create. It takes more skill to make bacon than to bake bread, but if you want a bacon sandwich, the bread is still as essential as the bacon. No one wants to read a classic every day!

Achieving that comfort can take a year, a decade, a lifetime. Once it is achieved, then those with good engaging ideas and a unique voice will become good writers. Once they die, they might sneak into the bracket of greatness ... maybe!