Jackarandajam
Maester
Sorry it's a bit long, I just really liked how that villain intro came out and couldn't figure out where to cut it.
Love this line.but it seemed the man was in the mood for blood instead of beer.
This is a great line!"If I told you, I would need to love you, and im fresh out of love these days." Rinty joked.
thanksThis is a great line!
I think the idea of a successful writer, like success in anything else in life, is one that requires refinement - definition or context if you prefer. Some people regard the size of their financial return as their measure of success. Some people take happiness or work - life balance. For some people it's giving it their best shot or even just finishing some task they set themself to. I am not trying to say that any of these - or any other measure of success a person might use - is any better or worse, just that people will, and do, use different ones. I would offer the observation that as a psychiatrist I see a lot more people who exclusively use a financial yardstick.I strongly recommend this, for every writer.
My degree is in English, with a linguistics minor, and effectively a dual concentration in sociolinguistics and the philosophy of language; I wasn't a creative writing major. I went to a school that has turned out a sh*tload of notable authors, though. My mother was a bestselling author, although she ghost-wrote for another author. I was born to the trade, won writing competitions in high school, wrote my first novel at 16.
Despite all this, I had ten novels rejected in the 15 years after receiving my degree. I had easily a million words of fiction, maybe two million counting throwaway drafts, under my belt before I self-published my first novel. But it has done very well, and continues to sell well. I'm now agented out of New York and have multiple publishers holding my new manuscript. It takes time to get good, is what I'm getting at, here.
You don't have to get a degree to be an author, especially nowadays--I know college is different, now, and much more expensive--but every author needs to keep learning. This is not a career you just walk into blindly. Being a successful novelist means a lifetime of dedication. It's nothing short of the kind of dedication and focus you'd need to become a concert pianist. Becoming a bestselling, full-time author is like becoming a concert pianist who has PBS specials and who tours with orchestras. (I can speak to this from experience; my wife is a professional opera singer.)
You'll keep getting better at writing until the moment you die, but on your deathbed, you'll still be convinced you're not good enough--you'll wish you'd held in there a little longer to learn the next thing about writing. And if that doesn't sound like the life you want to live, drop this hobby, because being a failed author can kill you, and not learning how to write will sure as hell ensure that you fail. Fundamentals of the writing craft--composition, theory, grammar, literary history--are as critical to an author as reading music and proper fingering are to an aspiring orchestral musician. And based on what you've posted, these are all things you need to study. Deeply, and for the rest of your life, if you want to do this.
I don't say this to talk you out of it. Quite the opposite. You clearly have the drive, and that's a great start. But it's not enough.
Get some classes under your belt. Find a mentor. Absorb books on the craft of writing. Join writing groups. Attend conventions, both for SF/F and for writing. Make friends. Find critique partners. Take their input seriously. Develop a thick skin; this is a full-contact sport. People will tell you things that are going to sting, and they'll say it about work you've put your heart and soul into. And never quit.
We all started where you are, right now.
So important to have a Plan B. It breaks my heart the number of aspiring writers who come to me for advice, and when I ask about their motivation it's (just about) always a career. And they haven't even written Word One yet!!!Neither music nor writing will be my career; perhaps that makes me fortunate - to have something less fickle as my livelihood.