How many of you want to be Famous Writers? I know that the fantasy takes second or third place to rock star or billionaire entrepreneur, but nevertheless many of us find the notion of becoming the next Stephen King, J.K. Rowling, Margaret Atwood or Norman Mailer distinctly appealing. We picture our opus featured on the front page of the New York Times Review of Books. We imagine sitting at the front of a crowded bookstore, autographing our latest masterpiece, smiling and nodding modestly as torrents of praise are heaped upon us by our devoted fans. We see ourselves humbly accepting the Pulitzer Prize or the Man Booker, or even the Nobel Prize for Literature, secretly pleased that the world has finally recognized our creative genius.
Allow me to share three hard truths. One, the world is full to overflowing with authors. Two, a tiny fraction of a percent are famous. Three, even the ones who are famous have to work their tails off to stay that way.
I am not trying to discourage you from becoming an author. All I'm saying is that if fame and fortune is your goal, a career as a writer is not likely to help you achieve it.
The only reason for becoming a writer is love. You have to love creating worlds with words. You have to love sharing your creations with readers. Only love will sustain you through the travails of writing, submitting, editing, and marketing your creations.
I have been writing and publishing for more than a decade now. A friend recently asked me to summarize some of what I've learned in the process. I offer my recommendations with the humble knowledge that everyone is different, and what I've discovered to be true for me might not be for you. Nevertheless, I am happy to share the fruits of my experience. So here are ten tips, in no particular order, that might help you along the path.
Most aspiring writers are already avid readers. I think that's where the love of language comes from in the first place. I learned to read when I was four and I've continued for more than half a century. However, once you decide to pursue writing as a vocation, you should read for education as well as for pleasure. Read work by other authors in your chosen genre, to learn the conventions and to get a feel for readers' expectations. Read books in other genres, to add contrast and keep your ideas fresh. Read poetry to train your ear to the music of words. Read books by authors you would like to emulate, and if you can stomach it, by authors you hate. Then analyze why you hate them. Immerse yourself in words and let them sink into your soul.
Some people recommend that you also read books on the craft of writing. Personally, I find most books of that sort discouraging. They make me feel guilty about all the things that I'm not doing. What works for someone else will not necessarily work for me. I also find that putting too much conscious effort into technique will sometimes stifle my imagination. You need to discover for yourself whether tomes on building characters, concocting plots, and other aspects of the writing process help or hurt.
Inspiration is a magical experience. Sometimes you can sit down, open yourself, and the words will flow out of your heart and onto the page. Afterward, you feel high -- buzzed and breathless, energized and full of joy. Honestly, it can be better than sex.
When this happens, cherish the memory. It will help you through all those other days when you feel that your imagination has run dry and left you stranded in a desert of clichés.
We all have those days. A professional writer can't afford to wait for inspiration. He or she has deadlines and commitments. To be a writer you must be willing to sit down ("butt in chair, hands on keyboard", as we say) and write, even when when you don't feel like it. Even when you think that every word you strain to emit is pure crap.
Think of it as exercise. Once you've decided on a regimen, you've got to keep it up or you'll lose your strength and agility. And sometimes the attempt starts out forced, but eventually limbers up your mind, helping you to produce quality work when you think that you can't.
When you begin writing, focus on a genre and a style that you personally enjoy. Your passion will shine through your pages and draw the reader in. Some books on writing may advise you to analyze the market and then write what sells. My response to this is unprintable. Readers can detect falseness. If you're not emotionally involved with your work, it will feel stiff and flat to your readers. All the vampires and boy wizards in the world will not make up for a lack of passion.
In counterpoint to the advice above -- don't be afraid to try something new. Say you've been writing mysteries for the past two years, but you're really fascinated by science fiction. Go for it! Many authors, even commercially successful ones, write the same book over and over again, sticking to a formula that works. This may help their branding, but I know that I'd burn myself out. Give yourself permission to explore. Who knows? Readers might enjoy your new genre even more than your old one.
Once your manuscript is complete, you've just begun. Most aspiring writers don't realize that a big chunk of your time as a professional author gets consumed by things that are only remotely related to writing. These include researching markets (potential publishers), scrutinizing contracts, sending out and managing submissions, accounting (yikes!), advertising, blogging, networking... If you're not willing to tackle all these business-related tasks in a responsible manner, give up on the notion of writing professionally. (Very few authors are successful enough to hire a business manager or a publicist!)
Correct grammar is not just an afterthought. Grammar is the skeleton of your writing, the structure on which you hang your ideas. I've met authors who shrug and say, "I'm really bad at grammar. It'll get fixed during the editing." I personally find that attitude irresponsible.
Grammar is one of your tools in fashioning your stories, as important as vocabulary or characterization or plot. I believe that you need to internalize the patterns of correct grammar, so that you can write effective, grammatical sentences without thinking about it. Rote learning of the so-called rules will not help much. How do you internalize grammar? See item 1 above!
Warning: once you've acquired this sort of intuitive sense for grammar, you may become terribly sensitive to all the bad grammar in the works you read. Unpleasant, but inescapable!
Perfectionism is a trap that frequently catches novice authors. They write a decent book, but then they're not sufficiently confident to submit it to a publisher. Instead, they revise and polish the work, reworking, rethinking, rewriting. Sometimes the problem is fear; sometimes it's just a sense that the book could still, somehow, be better...
Quality is important, obviously, but authors need to balance perfectionism with practicality. Different writers need different amounts of revision. I rarely do more than one major edit of my work (although I tend to revise as I write). Some of my colleagues go through half a dozen reworks before they submit. Learn what your work needs. Ultimately, however, you must stop fiddling and send your baby out into the world.
This is the flip side of number 7. Don't be afraid to rip into your first draft and make radical changes if your intuition, or your critique partners, tell you that this is necessary. There's a common saying we authors pass around: "Kill your darlings." You may be deeply enamored of a particular phrase, sentence or paragraph, but don't let your emotions get in the way of making your overall work more effective.
Prose has a kind of music that derives from the sounds of the words, the pauses implied by punctuation, and the rhythm enforced by sentence structure. When I write, I hear my sentences in my head. I rework and reorder phrases, select vocabulary and punctuation, partially to make the music flow.
The prosodic melody affects the mood in your story. Use languid, meandering sentences to evoke calm, contentment or introspection. Use short, direct sentences in moments of action or intense emotion. Use commas to introduce a short pause, semi-colons for a longer one.
I wrote poetry long before I began to seriously write prose. I can see (and hear) the influence in my work. Reading poetry can help you learn to hear the music in others' prose, and in your own.
There has to be. If you seriously want to be a writer, you must produce a steady stream of work over a period of time. You can't publish one book and assume that will make you famous. To build a readership, you need to follow your first book with a second and a third. Your backlist is an asset to exploit. As new readers discover and enjoy your latest opus, you can point them to your previous books.
One implication is that you should not get too upset if something goes wrong with one of your books. I've seen authors devastated when their book gets released with serious editing problems or a horrible cover. These situations are unfortunate, but they do happen. Just learn from the experience and remember - this isn't the last book you'll publish. You'll do better next time.
Don't measure your productivity against anyone else's. That way lies madness (and deep discouragement)! Write and publish at your own pace -- but keep doing it! Watch your backlist grow, from one year to the next, and pat yourself on the back.
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Becoming an author is an adventure. I didn't really know what I was getting into when I started. I had the uncommon experience of having my first book accepted by the first publisher to whom it was submitted. Still, I really had no idea what was in store. More than ten years later, I'm still learning, still trying new things, and still writing -- for the love of it and the chance to share my dreams.