Topic > Characteristics of a Great Writer Essay - 949

In an interview with Jonathan Franzen, winner of the National Book Award in 2001, he states that a good writer must be able to isolate himself from society while writing (qtd.in Fassler “ How to write”). Writing is a personal job that should not be done collectively or in collaboration even with the Internet. Will Self, author of Umbrella, says he “thinks of himself as a society of one,” which coincides with Jonathan Franzen's point of view (“Ten Rules”). Good writers dig deep into themselves and tell their own stories. Nabokov states that a good reader must use his or her imagination because that is what the writer used in creating the literary work (Nabokov). A writer's imagination can only come from within. Therefore, a good writer must carefully socialize with society so that the individual in the writer still remains (qtd. in Fassler “how to write”). You can write well only when the author's mind is autonomous. The only people who participate in the author's writing activity are the characters whose stories he is the author