Aspiring Writer

[ErinLauray]

Hello everyone!

I am new to this site and community and am excited for the book recc's and the knowledge I will learn about writing. I am considering participating in NaNoWriMo this year (National Novel Writing Month). I've heard of people setting a goal to write a specific amount of words, write an entire novel, develop their existing novel, etc.

I am a blogger and reader so I feel like I have a very primitive foundation for wanting to write. I don't have a degree in creative writing or anything like that, so I wanted to know from you all, is it a dream worth pursuing? I know I will have to ultimately decide, but sometimes I feel like because I didn't go to college for it or have any other accumulated knowledge on writing that I will fail at writing an actual story. Maybe its silly. Any pointers? Tips? Encouragement?

[Zain]

My first advice: Don't be scared. Some people enroll in dozens of writing courses and still struggle with the material. It might give you an edge, it might not. Personally, I don't think you can learn to be a writer. You can only learn some tools, and maybe you learn how to use them, but intuition is way more important. I don't say courses don't help, just that it won't make the difference between a good or a bad writer. If you discover that you really enjoy writing and feel "at home", you usually will seek out courses of your own later on. Not to improve your writing style as a main concern, but to broaden your horizons.
Most writers start out just like you; with no clue what to do. And that's okay, I can tell you. It won't stop. Writing is a never-ending journey of never knowing what you are doing or whether it will be the right thing in the end. That's the main issue some people have with writing: they expect it to be a clean job. But it's not. Writing is messy and nerve-wrecking, and... the best thing in the world.
Pursue your dream - either you notice soon that writing sucks, or you'll understand people like me and smile while reading the paragraph above while nodding. If it's not your cup of tea, that's okay, too.

NaNoWriMo is a great way to start. Personally, I participated two times and made great progress on my works. Didn't finish, because, honestly, 50.000 words isn't much in my first language (german's a bit wordy). I recommend you to start out prior to it, though. Not finishing might discourage you. Some feel like that. And I remember how stupid one's own works seemed at the beginning. And nothing seemed right. So I edited a lot, and NaNoWriMo is not designed for a lot of editing. Better write two to three short stories - just about something you like. For yourself, for a friend... and then go there. There are lots of great people participating. You also can join up with some people from the forum. It helps to keep working, to talk with people who have the same troubles as you.

And my finishing words: it's okay to doubt yourself. Successful writers rarely believed in their books selling that well - they believed in their ideas, but not in themselves to express them properly. It probably will always sound better in your mind than on paper. It's the ever-lasting curse writers suffer from. The knowledge that it could have been better. There's this great site which lists a lot of quotes from writers. I enjoyed it quite much, and whenever I feel too exhausted to write (mentally, not physically), I have a look at them. Maybe this will help you, too.
http://koti.mbnet.fi/pasenka/quotes/q-writ.htm
People can give you thousands of tips, but in the end you have to make the mistakes yourself to see why something doesn't work.
I hope that helps a bit.

[ErinLauray]

Wow, thank you so much for taking the time to write your response. That was GREAT advice. I appreciate your honesty. I blog and when I write, I feel like that is something I could just do forever. I write and write and sometimes it never gets posted, but I love the outlet of getting my ideas and thoughts out on paper [or screen ]. I will consider what you said about writing before I participate in NaNoWriMo. That is wise. I am a perfectionist, so I think that starting off with that big task of 50,000 words will feel overwhelming because I will want it to be perfect. Thank you again. I hope to glean more wisdom from this forum as I go on

[sarahnichole92]

I am going to give a list of Kurt Vonnegut's tips on creative writing. I love them so much and I really want to share it to you as a fellow aspiring writer. If there is anything that helped me, it was the following things:

1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things—reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. No matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them—in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.

[ErinLauray]

Thank you sarahnichole92! Those are awesome! I like having a checklist, even though with writing its more of a creative spill, I like having a list to refer to. Thank you!!

[vortexkd]

I don't really have much to offer except my own opinion and the way I work.
I think any story has three main parts, the concept, the characters and the plot. If you want to start out on a book or a long piece, it helps to have the concept down right from the start - something that can easily hook readers, and something that you yourself are excited about. Once you get excited about the story, it becomes a lot easier to write it, and you can plan, write, edit and whatever other order you want to work with. I know people who just write, without planning, however it flows. Then after writing a lot in that way, they take the events they liked the best and put them together in a plan, and then rewrite the whole thing. So the first round is like your brain storming session where you get to have fun with the characters, use cliches, and just generally play around.
NaNoWriMo is really great for doing this, because the quantity is quite important. It doesn't matter if stuff doesn't sound right all together so long as you get some really nice scenes somewhere in there.

[ErinLauray]

Thank you vortexkd I like how you said that NaNoWriMo is good for getting the quantity out. I feel like if I just write and write and write and then go back later and edit, I may have written my story out better than I would have if I edited along the way. Thanks for the input!

[variant]

I say "go for it!" I personally love to write, and I plan on self-publishing soon (if I can ever finish the book). Anyways, do not be scared to pursue your dream. Look at the woman who just swam all the way from Cuba to the Florida Keys, she has been trying for thirty years to do so, and she never gave up. Even if it seems success is impossible, I would still reccomend trying it.

[henrymartin]

I suggest writing if you feel like writing, and taking a break when you feel like taking a break. Sometimes, a story is born in an afternoon. Other times, writing a story can take years. Whatever you do, do not force yourself to write - you can tell when you edit later. As far as editing goes, I'd suggest finishing a story first, then editing when it's all done. Make sure you step away from the story for a few days (or longer) so when you return to edit it, you'll be looking at it with fresh eyes.

Good luck.

[me_ghost]

I suggest writing if you feel like writing, and taking a break when you feel like taking a break. Sometimes, a story is born in an afternoon. Other times, writing a story can take years. Whatever you do, do not force yourself to write - you can tell when you edit later. As far as editing goes, I'd suggest finishing a story first, then editing when it's all done. Make sure you step away from the story for a few days (or longer) so when you return to edit it, you'll be looking at it with fresh eyes.

Good luck.

Don't tell that to a chronic procrastinator! Potentially good advice otherwise. For me, though, it's important to develop a writing routine. Even if it's just 15-30 minutes every morning. As long as you are writing. You don't have to be working on any particular project; maybe just do some stream-of-consciousness writing or Julia Cameron's "Morning Pages". Get a routine going and you'll start to really make progress. I'm planning on participating in Nanowrimo this year as well. With something like this, I think it's important to be part of the community of writers that are doing it. We can support each other just by writing in the same room. In that scenario I feel compelled to write, so I write.

[gipps]

Hi there. I guess I will say something that I didn't hear very often when I was gearing up to write and starting to make a go of it professionally. It's hard. I think the tendency is (and was for me) to think that writing was the hard part, that as long as I put in the effort there it would pay off, that all it would take after that was patience and persistence. But having gone through the writing, workshopping, editing, submitting process for a while now, I know the writing is the easiest part, the part that still feels rather magical. That first go, that first draft, always feels like something special. But then the grim reality sets in that writing is a competitive field, that trying to get published is very difficult, that any publisher, magazine, etc is only going accept 5% or so of submissions, that sometimes the decisions can seem arbitrary because there are always more qualified stories or novels than there is room to publish. It is a harsh business, something that can be frustrating and depressing and confusing. And it is amazing. But I wish someone told me what to expect.

So my advice is to find other people passionate about writing, who are at your level and who are going to be struggling right along with you. I think it's much easier when you have people who understand how difficult it is and who you can talk to who will also have experience writing and with the process. Nanowrimo is fine and good, and I participate every chance I can, though mainly just as a writing word goal and not in trying to write a 50k novella. But I would recommend more finding a group, a workshop (there are a number of good ones online if there aren't a lot of writers in your area), and using it as a way to motivate and nurture good writing.

But this has all sounded rather arrogant of me, so sorry about that. Good luck!

[prisailurophile]

Writing prompts are great! I don't have a degree in creative writing, too. I graduated with a diploma at LSJ, majoring in feature writing. Still, I enjoy flash fiction. http://ermiliablog.wordpress.com/catego ... -it-write/ has a wonderful weekly exercise It's a great deal of fun!

I'm a book blogger at Priscilla and her Books

[mesterzsolti]

hello erinlauray,
no need for college degree for an aspiring writer like you are. I think you need talent and inspiration. I can propose you try flash fiction. this is a new genre of writing. it is online short story writing generally between 500-1000 words. hit "flash writing" or "flash fiction" in search engines. topics, submissions and conditions are on flash fiction websites. there are also tutorials. if you are talented you must write and you will succeed. best wishes for you!

[riyanj]

Something that I learned the hard way about writer's block is that you can't get stuck on your plot line. For my second book I had it scripted in my outline from start to finish. It's the first time I've ever written that way (I usually write free flow) and I did it under the advice of a friend. It worked out really well for me over all. But about half way through I hit a wall. Every time I sat down at the computer I had one character who I just could not make do what I wanted him to do and be satisfied. Finally, outside of the structure of my book, I opened up a blank page and just started writing. Letting that character do what he wanted to do changed the entire second half of my book yet still got me to the goal I wanted to be able to start the third one. In short, plot lines are great, but don't let them tie you down.

[mesterzsolti]

Interesting question is that how you become writer? Do you learn it in writing schools or should you have talent? As a writer personally I think you should have talent. Maybe in school you learn some theories but if you are not talentous, you will not be writer or poet. In case you want to be a writer or poet, you should write poetries and romans, novels, short stories. In case of talent it will be good. What is your oppinion?

-- 12 Nov 2013, 02:10 --

Interesting question is that how you become writer? Do you learn it in writing schools or should you have talent? As a writer personally I think you should have talent. Maybe in school you learn some theories but if you are not talentous, you will not be writer or poet. In case you want to be a writer or poet, you should write poetries and romans, novels, short stories. In case of talent it will be good. What is your oppinion?