I have a few common points that I like to share whenever I get the chance to talk to someone who's interested in writing.
1) Don't just talk about it - get in there and start doing it. One of the big regrets I have in life (and luckily I don't have many) is that I waited so long to get serious about writing. When I say serious, I mean the discipline to finish something. I started writing when I was around 10. I started several stories, getting 20 - 30 handwritten pages into them, just to give up and move on to something else. I truly feel that if I had stayed with it, that today I'd be in a position where I could make a living at writing (I'm not saying a great living - just a living). So if you think you'd like to write, please... just sit down and do it. You owe it to yourself. Don't be like me and regret the lack of effort several years down the road.
2) It takes two things to be a great writer and luckily both of them can be learned with practice. First you need to be able to write good. I'm not talking so much about grammar as I am talking about making your writing easy and enjoyable to read. Your sentences need to flow and provide a good current to take the reader downstream. I've read, and I've written several sentences that were way too cumbersome. Any time a reader has to stop and re-read a sentence, there's a chance you might lose him. Simplicity in structure and vocabulary are good. If you want to impress folks with your prose then you need to look at publishing an academic paper, not a novel. Second you need to be a good story teller. Take a moment and think back to the times you've listened to someone tell you a story. If you're like most people, the majority of the stories lost your interest in just a few minutes. But then there was the one or two that simply hooked you. You stopped focusing on the person telling the story and immersed yourself in what the story was about. You pictured the events and reacted without even realizing it. That person was a great story teller. Most of us aren't born that way, but with practice we can become pretty darn good. One of the best books I've ever read on writing fiction is 'The Writers Journey'. It goes over the formula for writing fiction as well as all the essential elements of telling a good story. I'd highly recommend it.
3) Remember and believe that every time you write you're going to get better and better at it. It's a craft that's learned.
4)One of the greatest joys of writing is that as you get into the story, you find yourself getting somewhat lost in plot and character development. I always start with an outline and character sketch, but as I get into the story I find that my characters start to take on a life of their own. I know this makes me sound a little crazy - and who knows, but let me tell you that it makes it an enjoyable experience. It becomes less like work and more like you're a spectator watching this incredible story unfold. At that point in the game, my job is simply to make sure that the story stays on course.
5) Some folks simply want to write for the shear joy of self-expression and there's nothing at all wrong with that. But if you're hoping to get published and aspire to some day make a living at it, then you need to remember that writing is a business. To that point, remember that some genres markets are easier to break into than others. I don't mean to offend anyone, but in general the Romance and Mystery/Whodunit markets are more open than the others. You also need to keep in mind that writing the book is only half of the job. The other half goes into marketing it and yourself to would be agents / publishers / readers. That's part of the reason why I started this blog. I like to share ideas and stories, but I also wanted to get my name out there as well.
For what it's worth that's my spiel for the day. I love to share my thoughts about writing. And since I feel that all writers (both published and unpublished) have great stories to tell, please feel free to shoot me a post if you have something that you'd like to share. Thanks and take care, J/W
