You have to be good at judging price distribution of the stock and not neccesarily direction to have a good chance of making it in options. Even neutral stats like flies requires some competency in discerning distro of the stock since a good writer will write after the explosive move into a quiescent period and the buyer needs to do so vice versa.
I have had much more consistent performance trading options that stocks over the years. However, every option trader must have experience with stocks. You don't necessarily have to be a good stock trader. Just an experienced one. Unless of course you are just trading volitility, but that is another discussion. A couple rules to keep you out of trouble (my own opinion): 1- It takes years to master so start very slow or you will lose money. 2- Remember an individual stock can go from $100 to $2 or $100 to $200 overnight. I've seen both scenarios happen. Just remember this when writting uncovered options on individual stocks. 3- Admit that you are wrong and cut large loses.