Bornfamous

You must read and read, and learn to read as writers read, understanding what the writer is doing–just as a would-be stand-up comic (to take a simple example) not only may laugh at the jokes s/he hears but also takes note of how the jokes are constructed, why they work, and how they are delivered. Or as a young musician would listen not only to a performance in order to enjoy it, but also in order to understand how it was done, and how it produced the effect that it did on the listeners. And of course, you have to write a lot–much more than you may want to. Study, practice, performance–it’s not much different from other callings, especially in the arts.