He is not so much of a writer as a reporter. <-- Not correct. Omit "of". He is more of a reporter than a writer. <-- Correct He is less of a writer than a reporter. <-- Not correct if you mean any reporter. If you mean a specific person, it would be correct, e.g. He is less of a writer than his older brother. He is not so much a writer as a reporter. <-- Correct He is less a writer than a reporter. <-- Have never seen this construction.

This is perfect! As Maria said, the second sentence is more colloquial and is perhaps the most common.

Hello Fenton, yes you are right all of these 3 sentences have the same meaning but the 2nd sentence is more natural in terms of conversation. Hope this helps.

The first one is correct. Do not omit 'of' but you would say 'He is not so much of a writer as he is a reporter'