1.You must be well read
You must read and not just in the fields that
interest you – writers pull from an astonishing
variety of sources for their work. If you do not
read, you will never become a writer. Let me
just repeat that: if you do not read, you will not
– indeed, you cannot – become a writer.
2.Imaginative
It sort of goes without saying, but an
imagination is critical. Feed your imagination
with books, movies, images, people, places. If
you have no raw material, you’ve nothing to
create with.
3.Critical
Be critical of your own work. Do not think that
everything you write is golden. The images you
see in your head may never match what you
finally put down on paper … but you keep
trying.

4.Disciplined
This is a job. Treat it like a job. You must write
every day – you may throw it away the
following day – but you have to write every day.
And just like any other job, the more you do it,
the better you become.
5.Passionate
Be under no illusions: this is a tough job. No
one is forcing you to do this, you’re doing it
because you love it, because you have to,
because it is part of you. You must be
passionate about the work.
6.Patient
Writers ultimately must become the most
patient people in the world. Everything takes its
own sweet time. A book takes a year to write,
publishers take 18 months to get it onto the
shelves, editors take months to reply, agents
even longer. The overnight successes are rare.
The majority of writers create a book , send it
out into the world and go straight into the next
book while waiting patiently for the first one to
find a home.
7.Ambitious
You have to want this. Really want it. There is a
cost to writing and it is a personal cost: the
family you do not get to spend time with, the
friends you rarely see, the movies you will miss,
the television programs you will never watch,
the books you will never find the time to read.
There are advantages though – and only you can
decide if one outweighs the other.
Thick Skin
Trust me, once your book is out in the wild, it is
fair game for everyone. You will get good
reviews and bad ones – and you will only
remember the bad ones. By all means, read the
reviews and if the reviewer has a point, then
take it on board, but don’t take it personally.
8.A Good Storyteller
If you’re going to be a writer of fiction – you
have to be a liar! A book is a lie – a big 75,000
words or more lie. PEACE

NYC one ......in dis naija

i hear you o