However, with each new article, I can try to dispense what meager crumbs of knowledge I have gleaned over the years. The first step to becoming a good writer, I believe, is developing good style. This is a hurdle that all published writers once had to leap, although they may choose not to remember it. Good style is not wearing a Gucci bathrobe and sipping a vintage Chardonnay as you peck at the keyboard. Good style is writing in clear and concise sentences, using no more words than necessary to get your point across.
Efficiency is the key.
Literary greenhorns are frequently blind to their mistakes in style, thinking that if their story idea is good, the words themselves will fall into a neat, ordered line. Well, it does not work that way. Before you can master the art of writing, you must master the craft. That is easier said than done, because there are a lot of rules and conventions that govern the craft of writing. Pick up any style guide and start thumbing through the pages and you'll see.