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Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/16978
License name: CC BY-SA 3.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/3.0/

Not my mother tongue, so bear with me :)

In my eyes, 'writing' consists of (at least) three areas of abilities and knowledge.

1. The creative (what does happen in my, for instance, novel?) 
2. The structural (When/ in what order should it happen for the most effect and to satisfy readers expectations?) 
3. The craft (how do I physically act to transfer the image from my head into the head of the reader?)

To get better in these areas (from my [limited] experience)

1. Read other books (not how-to-books), observe etc. 
2. Here How-To-Books can help a lot in my opinion.
3. Mostly practice, but some advice can help (adjectives etc.)

So (good) how-to-books wont hurt, and I do not agree, that writing alone will make you better at writing. It can work, but some good books, deconstruction of novels and so on can speed up the process.

In my opinion however, knowledge is not the main hurdle (the interwebz are full of tutorials and good and bad advice) for aspiring writers, but motivation and persistence. This is something only few (or no) books can help you with.

Original score: 3