What does it take to be an author?

Question:

What does it take to be an author?

I like to create stories, mostly manga (graphic novels) but writing is a storng passion of mine as well. What does it take to be a good author?

Best Answer - Chosen by Asker: First, you need to have a good understanding of grammar and spelling. I've seen stories riddled with punctuation errors, misspelled words, sentence fragments, and so on. Obviously, these are nothing that will get professionally published.

Also, you need to be able to describe your world in detail without boring your audience. You can have a character who's a wisecracker and can say stuff that would be obvious to your characters, but not to your readers, in a totally sarcastic way as long as it fits in well with your story and you aren't insulting your readers.

And be sure to get information about copyrights and who owns what. Very important to authors. The U.S. Copyright Office's web page, http://www.copyright.gov has a FAQ about copyrights.

When you're looking for a publisher, watch out for agents or publishers who ask for money up front. This can be a sign of a scam.