Tips can make someone a better writer but not necessarily a good writer. That’s a larger package–a matter of character. Golfing is more than keeping the left arm straight. Every good golfer is a complex engine that runs on ability, ego, determination, discipline, patience, confidence, and other qualities that are self-taught. So it is with writers and all creative artists. If their values are solid their work is likely to be solid.
It's a fascinating idea that I had not considered before. I mostly agree with it but I think we have to be careful not to take it too far and assume that being skilled implies having good character. Certain character traits are necessary to develop a skill, but those traits do not have to be virtues. Good writers can be confident, or they can be arrogant. They can be determined, or they can be ridiculously narrow-minded to the exclusion of worthier goals.
Put another way, developing skills probably requires certain character traits like confidence, determination, patience, and discipline if only because the process of becoming "good" takes such a long time, but the bands on those necessary traits are wide enough that we (the Western culture, at least) may or may not consider them virtues.
