[jmtame]

What makes a great writer? Someone who understands both angles, someone who has been both popular and a nerd. See Paul Graham's Why Nerds Are Unpopular, which was the first essay I ever read of Paul's in high school as a sophomore and that got me hooked on reading the rest of his: http://www.paulgraham.com/nerds.html

[thi]

Having just come from there (it made for an interesting experience on my end), I can say that his article is indeed very well written.