How to become a good/great screenwriter...

I kept coming across this question quite regularly from supposedly people who wanted to get into the business of screenwriting. I have answered a few of them with differing answers. As the same question kept getting asked of me in a multitude of ways and times, I decided to answer this question in one of two ways:

1. What a good screenwriter does when writing and or practicing the art of screenwriting, and
2. What are the qualities that makes a good/great screenwriter.

What a good screenwriter does when writing and or practicing the art of screenwriting:

A good/great screenwriter:

1. Understands that the essence of writing is rewriting,
2. Accepts constructive criticism and prioritises them according to their usefulness in order to better his/her script or story,
3. Fully understands his/her characters and researches them thoroughly if and when needed,
4. Writes what the audience knows and applies his/her creativity when presenting it to the decision makers (producers and or the financiers of the film or the show runners of a television show),
5. Avoids all clichés, predictable storylines and anything that will cause a reader or producer to reject the screenplay or script.
6. Comes up with quality ideas instead of just coming up with run of the mill, mediocre ideas just for the heck of it.
7. Does not glorify things in his/her script that happen in everyday life.

What are the qualities that makes a good/great screenwriter - the 4 'p's and one A:

1. Practice: A good and or great screenwriter practices their craft so that the writer can get better at it.
2. Passion: A good or great screenwriter is passionate about what he/she does and has a voice. They nurture their inner writer in ways that allow them to stand out from the mediocre crowd, and they have their passion in the right place.
3. Patience: It takes time to see the idea morph from concept to the final draft of the script - i.e. to develop the script from idea to a fully flushed out screenplay that is commercially viable and salable.
4. Problem solving: Readers are always looking for flaws with any screenplay that they read. This is done through the notes that they provide to the writer. For this reason, the writer needs to be skilled at problem solving. The writer needs to find solutions to address and fix the flaws and problems pointed out by the reader and or the producer.
5. Adaptable: A good or great screenwriter is adaptable. They adapt to change and they will change their story accordingly to make it better. This enables them to make their work marketable.

When other non-professional screenwriters or people who aren't screenwriters attempt to answer a question like this, their answers range from how a writer should read scripts and other literary works to how the writer should write stuff he/she knows or is familiar with. What they don't get is that when a writer writes things that he/she already knows, there are other writers who are doing exactly the same thing as this writer already is doing. This causes the writer to be lazy or take the easy way out and have a false belief that what he/she is writing is what people want and expect - which is not true. It may be competitive out there in the film and television business, but this competition isn't fiercely competitive. It also causes the writer to not challenge him/herself to his/her fullest potential.

A good/great writer does not allow him/herself to be narcissistic or self centered because of the fact that the writer needs to constantly be accepting of constructive feedback and adapt to change and challenges him/herself to his/her fullest potential.