/lit/ - Literature

You don't. You become a decent person who writes about his experiences in a way that people want to read.

Here's what to do:
1. Learn the craft. Study the basics of technique, whether in a class, workshop, guidebooks, or simply through close readings of your favorite books. See how sentences get put together, plots form, and ideas connect.

2. Read.. Apply what you learned from the above to everything you read or watch. Don't just follow the plot of your favorite novel, make note of how it's put together. What does the author include? What do they leave out? What questions do you have to answer as a reader? What do the authors assume you know about the world around you for the story to make sense? Why do you like some characters and hate others? Could you make it so you'd feel the reverse about these same characters? What does the book do wrong? How would you do it differently?

3. Write: Don't write well, just write. Emulate the voice of the last book you read, down to the flaws. Try re-framing stories you've read from a different characters point of view, or in a different prose style. Experiment with different plot styles, sentence styles, genres, and words. Play around and see what you like.

4. Read more. This time explore the ideas BEHIND the books that interest you. History helps a lot, as does philosophy. The classics (I'm talking Homer here) are helpful for seeing how tropes and devices originated. Read the classics of each age and see how they influence one another. Do some historical research on the era in which your favorite books were written in, including dominant schools of thought in literature, politics, technology, philosophy, etc.

5. Live. All of the above will only give you a sense of what has come before. Experience will allow you to use these tools to make the stories you own. Above all do NOT see yourself as a writer: Writers who write about writing are over-specialized obnoxious dicks. Be a human being who writes about the experience, not a writer who cloisters himself with obscure ideas disconnected from the world, or a tedious armchair politician penning manifestos disguised as prose. Until you have truly experienced something (and I mean this in the broadest possible sense: emotions, concepts, general experiences, insights) you cannot write honestly about it. Research, while important, is no substitute for experience. The core of what you write should always be rooted in your life.