10 Tips to Being a Legendary Writer

In defining my ten tips to being a legendary writer, I think it’s best to evaluate some legendary writers and what they bring to the table. 

Take William Shakespeare for example, who is timeless and legendary for: his way with words, the fact he was a wordsmith who created some words we even use today, and was one of the first writers to use modern prose, his subject matter encompassing love, revenge, death, suicide, adultery, murder, -all still relevant in our era, his colorful characters, his fusion of drama, comedy,  action and fantasy.

Take Zora Neale Hurston as another example who is widely read even today, though born in 1891, whose works are colorfully descriptive, emotionally infused and engrossing.  

Even Oscar Wilde can be called legendary as his works are still well read, his literature being witty, comedic, obscene and controversial.

Langston Hughes was yet another legendary writer best known as an innovator of a new literary art form known as jazz poetry which can be defined as poetry that imitates jazz music according to its rhythm and style and incorporates improvisation as well.  

Walt Whitman is another legendary writer in that he is credited with being a free verse poet, manifesting the idea of the individual self, and being controversial in that his poetic imagery heavily exuded sexuality.

A wealth of knowledge can be gained from these five legends alone, though they are few of many, but to summarize the credence they offer in defining what is required to be a legendary writer, I present the following:

10 Tips to Being A Legendary Writer

1. Timelessness 
2. Substance
3. The Human Experience
4. Innovation
5. Wit
6. Soul
7. Sexuality
8. Controversy
9. Comedy
10. Individuality

These ten tips defined embody the following ideologies:

1.  Timelessness – Produce a work that can transcend all generations and eras, something that all generations can buy into and adopt through the ages.
2.   Substance – Produce a work that has significance, validity and importance, something that matters and can make a difference.
3. The Human Experience – Produce a work that speaks to every human beings’ existence, something we can all relate to on some level, as did Shakespeare with his themes of love, death and vengeance, etc.
4. Innovation – Start a new movement with your writing as did Hughes and Whitman, deviate from the norm, do something different that has not been done before.   
5. Wit – Use intelligence in your writing, infuse wisdom, morals, knowledge and education in your works as people want to learn, man has an insatiable hunger for knowledge.   \
6. Soul – Infuse emotion in your works, be vulnerable, let your intellect and your heart work simultaneously to move your pen, people want to feel and experience your words on the page, not just read words; mental stimulation is not enough, appeal to all their senses.
7. Sexuality – As we all know, sex sells, and honestly, it’s not just sex, -it’s creation, -it embodies our very existence, we would not be here without it, -no wonder it’s a subject that is always on the forefront, it’s what life is all about, -a sacred union for the sake of life going on.
8. Controversy – We weren’t meant to live without it, what human being hasn’t experienced controversy at some point?  Every story has a conflict, just as our very lives are wrought with conflict in reality.  Without it, we would not be propelled or motivated to have or become something better, and a story would lack substance.  
9. Comedy – This is the opposing layer and just as needed as controversy in writing, as in life. We would perish without it, why else would we have dopamine, oxytocin, serotonin and endorphins? Every legendary writer infuses humor in their story as it is an integral part of the human experience.
10. Individuality – All great and legendary writers must separate or distinguish themselves from the norm or mediocre writers who still haven’t discovered their individual voice, or that which makes them different or more specifically, unique.  What is that thing that sets you apart from every other writer out there?