School or stories? Epics or exams?

Question

I am a fifteen-year-old boy, and thus firmly entrenched in school. However, I do not care too much for schoolwork. I want to write.

Before you ask, yes, I do get A pluses in English, and I love writing stories. I have several fanfics, thanks to fanfiction.net (my account is X-Black Mage-X if you're interested) and I'm starting work on an original story.

The only problem is that school gets in the way so much. All I want to do is write; I speak the truth and nothing but when I say that, if I had to write stories for a living, I would give up school tomorrow.

I don't want the extra work; I don't want the stress; I don't want the tests or grades or exams or anything. All I want is my imagination, a bit of peace and quiet, an original idea, a pen and some paper... oh yeah. And a computer avec word processor.

What do I do? Are qualifications really more quintessential to my success than my stories? I may be able to string words together, but I haven't got a full life experience.

Answer 1

I can understand your impatience, but you should bear in mind that writing may not immediately provide a living for you. Most authors have to relegate writing to the back burner, while they work a full-time job. The more education you have, the more you will get paid for those hours that you spend away from your passion. Lastly, life experience does give you a better palette to paint from, and school is an experience. Stay in school; learn not just from the books, but from the people around you. The most mundane person may become fodder for an heroic character; the most trivial experience may be an epic struggle, needing only the deeper hue of your imagination to render it such. Best of luck to you.

Answer 2

Very few people enjoy high school. It is just one (of many) of those things in life we just have to get through. Aside from the information or book knowledge you gain in school there are many lessons to learn. First, you learn how to work with others and develop social relationships. Second, you learn how to cope with situations and adapt. Finally, you learn time management and structure. Structure is very important to writers as the best imagination is no good without the discipline to bring it to fruition. I would also encourage you to look into college. College is a much better experience because you have more control over your classes. Also having a degree will open more doors for you. Good luck.

Answer 3

It is the richness and variety of your non-writing life that will put vividness into your writing, and captivate your readers.

So if you have not enough background abilities and educational grounding to absorb various locales and scenarios, and make unexpected connections among them, very soon your writing will become stale and unsaleable.

Stay with the general education as long as you can, then. Its eventual profitability in your chosen profession is more than you can possibly imagine at the moment.