How do you know if you are a Good Writer?
Writers write daily or when they want to write. Do you think there is a kind of perfection in writing?
WE should all aim for perfection DDE. No writer is perfect however, but it is a goal that keeps us trying to improve our writing.
What Jodah told is right. No one is perfect. By practice any one can be the best.
Writers write articles for reader. Readers who judge the quality of the articles, not the writers.
Every one writes with their own style. There is no set perfect style of writing. If you write an article or a book you know you are a good writer if people read what you wrote or purchase your book. Some of the best writers did not become famous until after their death. If you really are a good writer you will even piss some people off. Now, that is good writing.
DDE: These are two challenging questions.
A friend sent me a book she loved. I thought it dragged. Was the writing perfect? I think it depends on the perception of the reader.
I spend a lot of time at the Barnes & Noble Café. I browse through many books. I usually read the introductions.
Billy Buc, a hub writer, states that the first sentence has to grab you. he is correct.
To be honest, I have often wondered how many of the books even managed to get published. But a publisher had to have liked the book enough to publish it. The publisher might have even thought the book was a perfect one. I believe it depends on the reader to decide.
An example is The Shack. People raved about it, and it is going to be a movie. My sister loathed the book and she would not even finish it. I read it all.. it dragged in spots. Again, I think it depends on who reads the material.
Which brings me to the question, 'how do you know if you are a good writer?' For myself, intuition. Any time I have said to my husband, "I just mailed a manuscript out. It is awesome!" the magazine has always accepted what I wrote. Then there was a time when I would send something out and have a 'doubt' about a paragraph...or did I rush with it?
Each time, I got a rejection, with the editor complaining exactly what I KNEW before I mailed it out!
Therefore, my answer, I think, would be, we who love to write are ALL good writers...with flaws. And what we send out to be published, we know intuitively if it is a good read or not...Everyone knows Stephen King sent his manuscript, "Carrie" to NUMEROUS publishers and got many, many rejections. We have to believe in what we write long enough to never give up sharing it with, if necessary, several agents or editors until we finally get an acceptance.
All this is just my opinion from experience.
I am working on a book, and my goal is this: EVERY sentence HAS to be interesting. Striving for perfection? Perhaps, but I know this: If a sentence drags or appears uninteresting, those who read it will see it too.
For me, as a writer, I have to follow my inner gut. I have returned to hubs I have written and deleted sentences later that I thought, "WHY did I write THAT?"
All this being said, these are just my personal feelings as a writer.
Blessings, Sparklea
DDE: Thank you so much, very humbled, very appreciative. I just was reading your hub on writing a few minutes ago. Exceptional! Glad I printed it out to refer to. God bless, Sparklea
Hi Sparlea, Even great writers like Steven King aren't perfect. I tried to read "It" but couldn't gt past the first two pages. It just didn't grab my attention. I still haven't read it, yet I have read a number of hisother books.
I don't know if I am a good writer. I have been told I am, but then I read other hubs and wonder if I can be better. Truthfully DDE I write from my heart. Most of my writing is inspired by true events. I also write more when things in my life are most difficult. Does that mean I am good writer? I just don't know.
All the input shows that you are a good writer of questions
I believe I am but there is always room for improvement!! Great question!
This question made me think of the television show "American Idol" where people who think they are "good singers" audition. Three judges decide if they are indeed good singers. So who decides if you are a good writer? Is it your editor...your publisher...yourself?
I may think myself a good writer but maybe others would disagree. Like the show's contestants, maybe I don't realize my writing is out of tune with the reader. As an English teacher, I was constantly judging my students' work as good or poor writing. There are all kinds of rubrics we use to evaluate writing. Even HP has a rubric and asks us to aim for at least an 8.
To answer your question, I think people have a sense of whether or not they are good writers. The more difficult question is this: How do you know if you are a "great" writer?
If my article is appreciated by my target audience I am a good writer. If my article is recommended to their friends by my audience I am a better writer. If my article is appreciated and recommended by everyone I am the best writer.
I like to **think** I'm a somewhat competent writer, at least.
Being a good writer can be an objective thing to some degree, but if you put your passion and heart in your writing and if you express yourself through words and feel comfortable and confident doing so, you are a writer! Some good writers never met with acclaim until after their death! So, if you love to write, or write because it heals you, you are most likely a good writer. However, I must qualify, that you need to know the rules of grammar if you are to make it any kind of living!
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