Most writers of fiction do not earn enough money to live from their writing. Do you think the government should give them financial assistance to help encourage good literature? You should give reasons for your answer using your own ideas and experience.

Fiction writing is among the many creative professions that can be hard to make a living on. Some people believe financial aid to writer can help improve quality of literature overall. However, in my view, it is not the government's duty to support individual writers and there are certainly more adequate measures to support good literature.
To begin the government should support cultural life but not necessarily individual writers. I would argue that spending tax money supporting an unknown writer is highly risky and may overall profit this writer more than the society.
Moreover, readers and market many be able to determine the quality of literature better than the government. The quality of an artwork can be rather subjective and it is likely that good writer will become successful on their own. Therefore, they may not need the government?s support. In many authoritarian societies chosen writers are promoted by the government for their support of ideological views. This kind of relationship between writers and governments is inadequate for a democratic system in my view.
Finally, I am convinced there are more effective measures to promote quality literature than direct financial aid. The government can set incentives, like contests or prizes for authors of quality writing. Then they can initiate mentoring and support networks as well as training for young writers. Another option is setting up events for talented writers to present their work to the public or publishers.
All in all, I consider direct financial aid for individual writers or any artist problematic. A government should neither judge the quality of literature nor promote individual writers with tax money. Nevertheless, there are plenty of good ways to help young writers and improve the quality of literature in a country.