Curiosity may have killed the cat, but it certainly never did authors any harm. I’ve been writing professionally for over 20 years in nonfiction and fiction, and still learn something new every day about authoring, publishing, and life. I learn by observing. I learn by doing. And, of course, I learn by taking classes and reading.
I learn because I’m curious.
I believe all writers should be curious. And not just curious. In fact, it has occurred to me that there are four distinct traits every author needs to be successful—and which all great authors seem to have in spades. Specifically, they are:
Curiosity
Okay, I gave away the first one. I’ve heard numerous big-name authors talk about how curiosity is the primary fuel that drives them. I tend to agree. Here are just a few examples of things to consider being curious about:
- What makes a particular character tick? Why are they the way they are? What if they encountered something that shook their status quo?
- Why did such-and-such historical event take place? What if the outcome had been different? What if the event happened today?
- How do people do their jobs (FBI agents, paleontologist, restaurant servers, etc.)? What is a typical day like? What are their biggest challenges?
- How do certain weapons or scientific concepts work? What do you need to watch out for?
Empathy
This means empathy toward your heroes, your villains, and your readers. Only by intimately understanding your characters, their pain, and their motivation, can you truly bring them to life. And only by putting yourself in the readers’ shoes can you know which passages to cut, or how you want them to feel during any given scene.
Alfred Hitchcock once said that how the audience should be feeling during any given scene is always foremost in his mind. A great tip is to let a manuscript sit for a couple weeks after you’ve completed it. The distance allows you to approach it more effectively as a reader.
Dedication
There’s a difference between dedication and perseverance. Perseverance means sticking with something and not giving up. Dedication implies specific actions required for achieving excellence:
- Dedicating time to write: setting targets, such as a daily or weekly word count
- Dedicating yourself to learning the craft: continuously reading and taking classes or joining critique groups
- Dedicating the time for proper research: understanding the methods, locales, character idiosyncrasies, and tools featured in your given book
Organization
Organization doesn’t mean adherence to outlines or having a fancy system of color-coded spreadsheets, though those things can be quite helpful. More broadly, it refers to having a system that supports success.
For example, we’ve all probably heard the axiom, “Sitting is the new smoking.” If that’s true, then, as authors, most of us are chain-smokers. We need to make the time to get up and move around. We also need to put time aside for the research, marketing, and non-writing things we’re required to do.
Organization also means having a routine, including your writing frequency, and your approach to editing. Whether you’re a plotter or a pantser, a health nut or a couch potato, or a marketing maven or a social media recluse, it’s still important to have a system that works for you.
Conclusion
Curiosity, empathy, dedication, and organization. From countless classes delivered by successful authors, these are the four common “power traits” I’ve observed. Do these four resonate with you? Are there other traits you would include? I’d love to hear from you.
- Author Superpowers:
4 Traits All Great Authors Have - March 27, 2025 - BookTrib Spotlight:
Hannah Deitch - March 25, 2025 - Ripped from the Headlines:
The Oligarch’s Daughter - March 21, 2025
