The 3 Things You Need to Be a Writer

Get Writing today with Advice from Faulkner

I have been worried lately that I am not a writer at all, or rather not a very good one. And a quote that I actually received from a new fellow-writer-friend (though he actually misquoted the idea was nearly the same) helped me confirm what I was missing. Here is the actual quote from the great William Faulkner:

“A writer needs three things, experience, observation, and imagination, any two of which, at times any one of which, can supply the lack of the others”

My friend said that there are three things that make a great writer, and you only really need two of them. They are: experience, hard work, and imagination. I feel that I have a lack of experiences that are very far outside of myself, very outside of a life that (thankfully) lacks a lot of hardship and conflict. However, I definitely have imagination. I'd been thinking lately that I know I can be a great writer, if only I will work hard enough. I guess that's not really what Faulkner said, though. So then I must ask myself if I observe enough, and I do think I need to improve on that as well.

In any case to improve, I plan to observe more, especially as I travel the world, but also anywhere and always. I also need to stop being lazy, and work much harder. Look at these 3 things, and see if you can work on being great at least two, or even three of them.