The Elusive It Factor

How I Know When a Writer Has It and How You Can Develop It Too

Every so often, I stumble upon a piece of writing, sometimes a paragraph, sometimes a single sentence, that makes me sit up straighter. A spark ignites and I’m locked in. Everything else will fade into the background because there is a kind of electricity in the words, a clarity of voice, an assurance behind the phrasing.

That’s the it factor.
And yes, I can tell when a writer has it. Let me tell you, that’s an exciting moment for me!

But here’s the truth almost no one wants to believe: The it factor isn’t mystical, and it isn’t something you’re either born with or not. It’s a skill. And skills can be learned. Sure, there is God-given talent and some lucky few are born to do extraordinary things with little effort, including writing brilliantly. But for the rest of us, we need to work for it. And that effort can make all the difference. But it is achievable!

Let’s break it down into what makes a piece of writing stand out.

1. Confidence on the Page

This doesn’t mean arrogance, it means the writer knows what they’re doing, even if they’re breaking rules. The prose feels intentional. The choices feel deliberate. There’s an underlying sense of trust me, I’m taking you somewhere.

2. Voice That Feels Unmistakably Theirs

The it factor often comes down to a voice that doesn’t sound like a blend of five different craft books. It’s textured. Specific. Honest. A writer with “it” doesn’t write the way they think they should. They write the way only they can. That writing is their voice, their style, theirs alone (sorry AI, you can’t compete!)

3. Precision That Doesn’t Kill Magic

These writers know when to be sharp and when to be soft. Their sentences carry rhythm. Their metaphors aren’t just clever, they’re true. They know when to linger and when to cut. Sometimes the staccato of sentence length can add to the tension or rhythm of a scene giving it that much more magic.

4. Emotional Accuracy

This is one of the clearest markers of a writer who has crossed from competent to compelling. It’s not about dramatizing feelings or piling on intensity. It’s about portraying emotions in a way that feels psychologically true for the character in that moment. Emotional accuracy means a character’s reactions grow out of their history, wounds, desires, and internal logic, not the author’s need to move the plot forward. When a writer nails this, the reader feels a click of recognition: Yes, that’s exactly how someone like this would think, break, hide, lash out, or soften. It creates trust. It deepens immersion. And it allows even small moments to carry tremendous weight. Emotional accuracy is what makes readers care, not because they’re told to, but because the emotional world of the story feels real enough to step into.

5. Curiosity Instead of Performance

The best writing isn’t trying to impress you. It’s trying to explore something honestly. Writers with the it factor are investigators, not performers. And this takes writing to another level of greatness.

I’ve said for years that writing does take talent, but it takes more devotion, determination, learning, rewriting, growing and reading in the genre a writer wants to write in. But I still get asked, “Is the it factor Talent or Training?”

Yes, some writers start with a head start. Maybe they grew up reading voraciously, maybe storytelling came naturally, maybe they had early encouragement. That gives them an advantage. But the it factor itself? It IS learnable, developable and achievable. I’ve seen it happen with writers as they develop their skills and evolve through rewrites and new projects. This is possible.

And here’s how:

How to Cultivate Your Own It Factor

1. Read Like Your Life Depends on it

Don’t just read for story, read for structure, breath, voice, movement. Notice what you underline. Notice what you skip. Let other writers sharpen your instincts. Take a look at Save The Cat For Novelists. It breaks it all down into bite-sized digestible structure.

2. Write Bravely, Not Perfectly

The it-factor comes from allowing your real voice onto the page, not the neat, polished, overly-cautious one. Bold choices create memorable writing. Safe choices create forgettable writing.

3. Give Yourself Space to Develop Your Style

There will be a long season when you know what good writing is… and your writing is not that yet. This is not failure. This is the doorway. Persisting through this phase is what turns “I like writing” into “I have a voice.” You’ll find your style eventually and it will continue to evolve, the more you write.

4. Put Pressure on the Right Things

Don’t obsess over commas. Obsess over clarity, conflict, stakes, desire, truth. You can fix punctuation, you can’t fix a hollow story. And the first draft is usually mediocre at best. But get it down and then go back to it. Rework. Rewrite. Restructure. Rip it to shreds and make it better.

5. Get Bored With Your Own Tropes

If you keep writing the same sentence, metaphor, or emotional beat, push deeper. Surprise yourself. Surprise the page. Surprise the characters.

6. Seek Feedback From People Who Tell You the Truth

Not harsher than necessary, not softer than useful. The it factor grows in the tension between encouragement and challenge. Find a beta read, join a writers group, find support and share your work, and read theirs. Find your people, bond and support one another.

7. Keep Returning to the Work

The writers who develop the it factor are the ones who stay. They revise. They try again. They reimagine. They don’t wait for luck to strike; they build the conditions for brilliance. In my last post I talked about patience being a writer’s superpower and that applies here. Keep at it, keep going, keep writing. Stay patient.

Just remember, every writer you admire once wrote something terrible. They were once riddled with self-doubt. They once envied someone else’s voice. They’ve all had imposter syndrome. At one time they were all newbies sitting in the sidelines hoping they’d be good enough. But they kept going.

And that’s what I want to leave you with:

Keep writing.
Keep reading.
Keep learning.
Keep growing.

The it factor isn’t something you find. It’s something you become. Then an agent or editor finds it, sits up straighter and a spark ignites…