I really want to be a writer, and my friends tell me I'm good, but I can't find inspiration or get publicity.

Answer 1

Yup - get the Artists' & Writers' Yearbook - you can get a copy from a good library. It gives you articles and tips. Also get your hands on some mags - WH Smith sell a few - Writers Forum and Writer. Lots of inspiring articles in there to get your juices flowing with some good luck stories.

Join a local writers' group. You get feedback and the opportunity to read out loud a short story or poem or just an intro, etc.

You need to find your best time to write - ie if you like to get your jobs done in the a.m. then dont write then as you'll be distracted - get them done first and then concentrate on writing. Maybe youre better writing at night. I need total silence and hate interruption as it spoils my flow.

It's so difficult to get published - 1000s of submissions end up on publishers' and agents' desks each week from wannabe writers! You can't do it for money - it's a labour of love.

Just be tough, persistent and maybe enter a short story in a writers mag as for £10 they'll give you an honest critique and you can gauge how good/bad you really are - your friends' opinions don't really count because they want you to be good and won't really lie to you.

Good luck to you!

Answer 2

Inspiration for me is dependent on a lot of things. It's not solely dependent on the actual act of writing. Please ignore the one answer from the girl that said a true writer is always inspired. Not true. I have a degree in accounting which will help me pay the bills until I sign a publishing contract. While looking for my first accounting job, I was stressed out about unemployment and in no mood to write. Inspiration is affected by your life, not by simply sitting down and saying go. For me, the stars have to be in the proper enlinement for the words to flow. A problem with inspiration could be as simple as the project you've chosen to work on. Maybe it's not right for you to work on right now. I'm just saying there are many, many sources of a lack of inspiration. Very few "true" writers can keep the writing switch turned on all the time.

About the publicity, hold your horses. The steps in becoming a professional author go: author finds agent, agent finds publisher, publisher sells book. The publisher will do all the "publicity." All you can worry about is finding an agent. And there will be numerous regection letters. Take none of them personally. Authors are often people of emotion, but getting published is a business move and you have to have a tough skin. Once you feel you're ready to look for an agent, you will be rejected. I guarantee it. The key is to remind yourself that they're wrong and simply move on to the next one.

www.writers.net has a list of agents that can be searched by genre.

www.writersmarket.com also has a huge database of agents, a bit more up-to-date too. The downside is you have to be a member. Though when you're ready for looking for an agent, the $25/year may be worth it.

Best of luck!

Answer 3

First of all, a true writer is always inspired. It drives their need to write. A true writer seeks inspiration, sees beauty and intrigue in every day life. They are compelled to write.

Second: Of course friends are going to tell you your writing is good. They are friends, not writing critics. If you want some constructive criticism, join a local writers' critique group or an online one. In a critique group, the other members aren't friends and they'll be HONEST with you about your writing. A decent critquer will provide you with helpful, constructive suggestions. If all you want is praise, then continue showing your writing to friends and family. If you want to improve your writing, join a critique group.

Third: Publicity? You are a long long way from needing publicity. Worry about that after the ink has dried on your signature for a publishing contract.

Answer 4

Well to get publicity you'll have to get inspiration and write something first.

Try sending off short stories to magzines that publish new writers. There must be loads listed on the internet.

There are also writers workshops you could try.

Good luck.

Answer 5

Take a creative writing class and become a member of a writer's organization.

Check magazines such as Writers Digest (also www.writersdigest.com), and Poets and Writers.

You could also study a related major at college. Such as English Lit. Or go straight into a creative writing progam.

Good luck!

Answer 6

Writing is hard work its not just about inspiration and great ideas. Friends are really not very good guides (i mean who is gonna tell you its crap!!). Do as much as you can, get yourself a copy of the artists & writers yearbook and try and get an agent.

Answer 7

Weel, I think that's part of becoming a good writer - being able to coem up with inspiring things to write about :)

I'd suggest keeping a notbook with you at all times, and jotting down little thoughst as they enter your head, or funny charcters you see on the street, or amusing conversations overheard on the bus, places you vist, people you meet, issues you coem across, things that make you happy, sad or angry, general experiences.

You can then take inspiration from the notebook, and you may find a story develops.

Answer 8

Watch the film 'Adaptation', specifically the bit where Nicholas Cage's character goes to a talk by Robert McKee (played by Brian Cox).

Answer 9

if ur friends say u are a good writer they must have read something u wrote..so, how come u are not inspired?

Answer 10

join the club... i have 5 finished manuscripts, and i cant get representation... oh, my stories are well written, its the subject matter... for a hobby i shoot holes in teh theology of modern religion and science... and it scares too many folk. can i get an agent? not in 3yrs of trying...

what can i say, even Salmaan Rushdie didnt have these problems. maybe the publishers cant cope with yet another fatwah... all i know is im banging my head against teh brick wall...

we cant buy inspiration, and it certainly wont appear looking at a blank page... if anything its counter productive... i realised i need silence... so i write from around 10pm to 4am...