If you ever want to be best buddies with a writer, you need to acquire a few, preferably all, of the traits listed below.
These are personally my top eight traits I look for when choosing my friends. Of course, I look for other characteristics and consider different factors when picking my company but these are the ones I tend to care most about.
I gravitate towards people who are humble, ambitious, supportive, understanding, independent, well-rounded, and funny. Below I explain why.
Humble.
Condescension will not help you in befriending a writer. Why? It just won’t. So deal with it.
Ambitious.
Have goals and make plans for your future because this is what a writer does best.
Supportive.
Writers will support you if you support them through everything. Rejection, burnout, everything.
Understanding.
You need to accept and understand a writer’s quirks, idiosyncrasies, and characteristics. At least try to.
Independent.
You must be reliant on yourself if you plan to impress the almighty writer. You don’t see them asking someone else to write their novels for them, do you? That’s what I thought.
Well-read/well-educated.
The more you know, the better off you are making friends with the pen-wielding, word-savvy individual. Smart individuals make for intelligent conversation, which contributes to better writing.
Funny.
You need to have a sense of humor and an ability to provide amusement. This makes for great stories, characters, and dialogue.
Don’t say I never told you so.
Herminia Chow 