What is the most important trait for a fiction writer?

Persistence, for sure. You could be not-so-good, or decent, in all the rest, but if you are persistent and have the will to improve and progress, that's all you really need. Stamina will get the job done.

gjb817 said:

Persistence, for sure. You could be not-so-good, or decent, in all the rest, but if you are persistent and have the will to improve and progress, that's all you really need. Stamina will get the job done.

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Definitely agree with you. Getting in word-count every day, querying agents, editing - these things require stamina. Creativity, for most people at least, ebbs and flows. Some days it's really easy to get a large amount of well-written words down onto the paper, but on the days that it's not - persistence will keep you in the game.

Whilst everyone has their strengths and weaknesses, and it's easy to say one thing is more important than another, they are all equally important. If you build on one thing to the detriment of everything else, you're still not doing well. The idea is to build up all of these things, maybe not equally, maybe not to the same degree, but so as nothing gets left behind.

Youth! hahahaha

(only in the sense that you can fuck up a few times and still get another chance--i do think I'm smarter than I was younger, have seen more of life and have more empathy and better understanding of what I've seen)

It's a nonsense question. A dozen traits are needed to be a fiction writer. Lacking even one will make for failure. They're ALL important. Singling out one would be dumb.

gjb817 said:

Persistence, for sure. You could be not-so-good, or decent, in all the rest, but if you are persistent and have the will to improve and progress, that's all you really need. Stamina will get the job done.

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I agree.

Those who are persistent will increase their attributes in all the other areas. If a writer writes diligently over a long period of time, their understanding of grammar will increase. Their ideas will improve. So will their storytelling. Success in every other area can be tied back to persistence.

Keep in mind, the poll isn't asking what is the only important trait; it's asking which of all of them is most important. All of them are essential. No one is arguing against that.

if we're very nitpicky, though, someone could get away with a lot less persistence if they have (for example) a lot of luck.

itp robably varies for each person as to what was most important for them. Certainly, for myself, I don't have much persistence. I do have privilege and luck, though.

Personally, I've learned over the years that everything except the desire and ability to sit in a chair and actually put a book's worth of words on a page can be taught.

Certainly grammar, storytelling, writing ability, and use of imagery are not innate abilities. You learn them by reading and writing. Humor isn't even necessary. There are plenty of successful books that are light on humor.

Even creativity can be taught and conditioned.

There is only one thing that can ONLY come from the writer themselves - the willingness to actually write.

I dunno. I guess it depends on what it is you want for you writing and what it is your trying to do with it.

Creativity and a lot of word economy, grammar.

Laer Carroll said:

It's a nonsense question. A dozen traits are needed to be a fiction writer. Lacking even one will make for failure. They're ALL important. Singling out one would be dumb.

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Makes a lot of sense.

Roll all the mentioned traits into the best manuscript you can manage, be persistent, and get lucky.

This was a difficult decision for me to make, but after giving it some thought, I feel that persistence is a good trait for a writer to have. As long as one can turn out a finished product, even one that may need major revisions, that alone is a major victory. Well...for me, anyways.