[Tari]

I'm doing an assignment for school. i'm asked what sort of skills an dsttributes people need to become writers. i'm curious what people think about it. here's the question:

What skills and attributes do you need?

I'm specializing in Fanatasy writing for this assignment so i thought there'd be nowhere better to ask then here. contemplating the fact that people here are experienced and have a love for this area. it'd really help me out. ASAP.

cheers

~Tari

[Heresy]

Determination and focus to finish as well as stubborness and a thick skull to prevent criticism from turning them off from writing.

Aside from that, I can think of a few generic throwbacks:

1. Luck
2. Skill (occasionally will go hand in hand with 1.)
3. Imagination
4. The ability to capture a feeling or essence that readers will relate to and look forward to reading.

[JamesL]

Four vital characteristics:

1) Ability. Sounds obvious, but is a required attribute nonetheless. Whether by natural talent or practice, you have to have a good level of skill to create believeable characters, interesting plots, etc.

2) Discipline. By this I mean the ability to physically write your novel. There are more books published by average writers with excellent discipline than by great writers with little discipline. There is no point having the ability if you have no discipline. You need to get into the habit of writing as often as possible.

3) Self-belief. You have to believe that you are a good writer and that you will succeed. Otherwise you stand little chance of succes. At the same time however, you need to be realistic - know your strengths and weaknesses.

4) A thick skin. Make that an iron skin. You will get rejected; it's a fact of the writing life. Everyone gets rejected. Harry Potter was rejected by several publishers. The Beatles were rejected by practically every record company in England. Rejection doesn't mean you won't succeed.

:)