One of the fun parts of being a writer is fan mail. It still makes my day every time when I open my inbox and find that someone has taken the time to write me, whether to comment on my writing, or ask me questions. Recently, I was honored to receive a question that every writer will be asked at some point, because this is a question you get asked when you've "made it":
"I'm thinking about becoming a writer. Do you have any advice for someone just starting out?"
I always wonder how to answer this question, honestly. Part of me wants to give the happy sunny answer: Well, you need to work hard, make the commitment to write every day to get some words down, develop a thick skin, and always be open to criticism. After that, it's just a matter of getting exposure, doing your research on presses and agents, and hoping for the best when you send your stuff out. Good luck!
…
And then I remember I'm a Scorpio.
So here's my advice, along with a complimentary bag of salt to take it with.
Develop a love/hate relationship with money. You're always going to need it, and it's never going to be there.
Find a bad habit. Cigarettes and alcohol are the time-honored cornerstones of the writing community, but any addictive behavior will do in a pinch when you need to run off crying from your manuscript because one of your author friends did five thousand words yesterday (the bitch), compared to your paltry fifteen hundred. A loved one will probably tell you it's not a race, a mentor will tell you it's more important to write a good scene. You don't have time for rational and cogent suggestions. Go for the vice.
Develop a love/hate relationship with your readers. Publicly love them because they talk up your books and send you fan letters and generally make you feel like you're not wasting the potential your third grade teacher told your parents you had. Secretly hate them because you suspect they're all lying and just using your book to prop up their shrine to Stephanie Meyer. Secretly realize you're being ridiculous and publicly apologize for your opinions. Receive confused fan mail. Go for the vice.
Find beta readers.
Then find beta readers you can trust.
Then find beta readers you can trust that you don't believe are probably insane.
Find a publisher.
Realize it's not as simple as just picking one and submitting.
Begin to suspect that the publishing world runs entirely on nepotism and kismet. Then sell your work and realize it's actually a lot fairer than you initially suspected. Look through your earlier work and realize why you were rejected from so many many many places. Seriously, they let you out of grad school with that manuscript?
Read your work aloud. Immediately revise your dialogue because having heard it aloud it becomes apparent that nobody actually talks like that.
Read. But don't just read, because readers don't just read. Watch TV, movies, read comics and graphic novels and listen to music and learn how the structure is changing so you can keep up.
Give a damn. Self-explanatory.
Consider self-publishing. Then ask yourself if you want to sell something you put eleven months of your life into for ninety-nine cents. Also, remember that you suck as an editor.
Find an editor. Make her the first person you thank in your acknowledgements, because the difference between the final edits and your original draft will be staggering. Thank her because she will make you look so very good.
Realize that being a writer is tough, so take every opportunity you get to celebrate. Realize your debt to your friends and family, who put up with your delays and cancellations because you finally cracked through a mini-block and need to keep momentum. Realize your debt to your fellow writers and betas, because they push you to work that potential that maybe you aren't wasting after all. Realize your debt to your readers, because despite that you literally are making it up as you go, they keep coming back and chipping in to find out what happens next.
Realize that every work is a labor of love, because if you don't love the labor, there's no point in doing it.
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I absolutely love the brutal honesty & reality of what you wrote. Thank you. ;D
Thanks! I figure you have to be up front about it, otherwise you’re not doing anyone any favors.
i love it! thank you! very frank yet profound and inspiring! well put!
Thank you very much for the kind words and feedback.
Thank you for your great insights! Honest advice is appreciated!
xoxo
Really good post. As one of the wannabes, I appreciate honesty. I don’t want simple and sweet but I also don’t want horror stories filled with gloom and doom. I understand hard work. I understand perseverance. I understand reality is different than my imagination. Thanks for telling it like it is. Good advice!
Mostly, this comes from my own writing classes, in particular from an Intro to Fiction course where a local writer came in and proceeded to deflate all of our dreams of being famous writers.
Mostly, his anecdotes were “gloom and doom” as you put it, but as it turned out, the sole required text for the course was Anne Lamott’s “Bird By Bird” (which I highly recommend), so my attitude toward writing was tempered by that.
In the end, I do believe you have to be honest with beginning writers, both about the triumphs and the failings, because it’s the only way to help someone brush away all of the B.S. and negativity and unrealistic expectations to find the most important aspect: their passion for writing. Once you have that, everything else either falls into place or doesn’t matter as much, you know?
Thanks for dropping by.
So very true. Thanks for writing all that. I’ve had quite a few rejections and after going back over the stories, especially if it’s like a year or so later, I’m so embarrassed that I actually sent that crap to a publisher. And now I can’t resend it because they only accept one manuscript one time (at least with the publishers I’ve found so far).
Great idea about reading aloud. I never thought about doing that. I will now.
Thanks a lot!
Excellent! Sincere honesty and no BS!
It’s true… the shrine to Stephanie Meyer… I guess that is what happens when Oprah loves you.
Thanks for the tips. The thick skin is a must and I always view my critiques as a blessing. Someone actually took the time to read it and make a comment as opposed to just throwing it aside. Good, bad or indifferent… any feedback is a blessing
Great Post!
Thank you!
I LOVE you! This is the best post ever and I am printing it because there is so much truth under the humor. I’m going to take you up on this advice and success is sure to follow!