How can i become a writer?

Question

I'm in my late 20s and doing a very material job but all my life i've wanted to write novels. What steps should i take to educate myself for being able to start writing? I have a lot of feelings and thoughts about what type of things i will write but i just can't get organized and start off.

Answer 1

I am the type who learns through observation and absorbtion by vicinity. I would simply focus on writers whose works I strongly relate to and am inspired by. I would be sure to include at least 3 different writers and read many of their stories. I would then plan a story or plot outline to create a certain flow to the story so i didnt go off track.
I would make sure to have a good dictionary, thesaurus, and encyclopedia for reference to make my story relative and interesting.
I would write a short story first to get a feel for completing a project. Say 100 pages.
I would plan my story up front and as I go along to decide how the characters will unfold, and interact. I would devise relavent challenges and obstacles to further define them.
I would carefully fool and suprise my readers.
I would enlighten them with words that inspire.
I would cause them to be within the story.
Just as my favorite writers do for me.

Just do it.
You don't need anything except your self and your will to accomplish.
Everything else will come naturally if you just believe in yourself.

Answer 2

Good for you!! If you are serious and it takes a serious approach to achieve writer status, than start making notes on subject matter you know about. Don't go for literary perfection but just write, write and then write again about the subject. In a weeks time you will probably have enough material to start a novel. This is just basic if you want to see if you can complete an assignment. Next, look up a night school in writing and enter it.
Afterwords you will know if the work is too much for you OR if you love the work.
Spartawo...

Answer 3

Simply start writing, however, before you start writing a novel, I recommend writing the novel you have in mind in the form of a short story, one which is no longer than 3 to 5 pages. Writing the short story version of a novel provides you a road map for the novel, provides an end and a beginning, and leaves room for endless possibilities that can be expanded when you write the novel.

With regard to writing in general, I highly recommend looking at Poets and Writers Magazine, which is available by subscription and on the net at www.pw.org. It provides excellent, real-world advice on writing, and places to submit your writings for publication.

With regard to publication, the odds of any new writer having a novel accepted by a publisher are minuscule. However, it is now possible to self-publish a novel through a "print on demand" site such as www.cafepress.com. You upload your novel on a "store" at the website, and if the novel is bought, cafepress prints its, ships it, bills its, etc., and they send you a check. Offering one item, such as a book, on cafepress is free. If you offer thousands of different items, such as books, music, and artwork its about $5 per month. For a book, cafepress has a set price they will get per page, and you sell the book for whatever you want above that amount. You do need to be able to upload the book in PDF (Adobe Acrobat), but the software can be bought at most computer stores.

Answer 4

An aspiring writer is a good writer. Start by organizing your mind and ideas type them if you want, or brain storm on ideas for a book you think you would be suited to stick with. A suggested collage course or two would be a smart move to make, but it is not required. Any one can write. I recommend picking a specific genre (Young Adult, Sci Fi, Lit., classic novels, etc.) Try www.thisispush.com for some other aspiring writers who happened to be on the right site at the right time. Hope this helps!

Answer 5

A great way to start is to sit down and write out an outline of what you want a book to be about, the main frame of the book...then get all your p's and q's in order and begin...you should take a refresher course in english and punctuation. Write what you love...put down all your feelings and thoughts and see if they are not leading you to something..open yourself up to new thoughts and changes..dont put yourself in a box...write a little each day and dont judge it...I have found the writers time and again have what they thought was bad be the best of the lot...so dont judge yourself...let it flow thru you and to you...you will be well on your way...blessings...

Answer 6

Write. Once you finish writing down your ideas and feelings, now comes work. You are going to have to learn how to re-write. Self edit what you wrote. This is how you organize your characters, plot, and feelings. Re-write is what writing is all about. You want to sculpt your words like a sculpture sculpts clay. After you finish re-writing, usually several times, then it's time to test the market. Get ready for a zillion rejections from publishers and literary agents. If you still determined just keep on sending more query and first chapters to whoever could get you published.

Answer 7

Write your auto biography first. Go crazy with it, then burn it. You get it out of the way that way. Then you aren't one of those writers who keep doing their story in everything they write.

Go to school. Masters minimum. its not that that is required but you will make contacts in the field that way. Professors, publishers etc.

Get an internship at a publishers, NOT a bookstore. Work there for free if you have to. Get to know the business and the people.

Very little of this has to do with good writing so don't worry about it. Start with short stories. Get a few magazine credits. Never self publish! Never do anthologies! Never do online! Never do Zine work.

Writers by themselves are wastes of space, but a writer who has studied up on the south and the civil war can write Cold Mountain. it's not your writing, its what you write about. Never do journalism, its a dead end and a trap. Journalists never make it anywhere no matter how good they are.

Turn it into a business. Hire some one to get your work out to EVERY magazine. Do NOT do it yourself or you will get burnt out. Owners should never work the register if you know what i mean.

Do not hang out with pseudo intellectuals or other writers. Hang out with people who are nothing like you. Watch them and log unique things that you can use as devices later. Keep a huge file cabinet with all of these things in it. Its easy. Just scraps of paper. have someone else put it all on a disk when you get a lot of it.

Live. You must have unique experiences. Never run with the bulls, Never backpack across Europe, and NEVER EVER Write anything in a coffee shop. and never write the word coffee.

Get your heart broken real good once.

Do not care about your writing. It is malleable, should be changed deleted, moved, and abandoned. Allow yourself to keep the drafts of one story for a novelty to see all the work that went into it that never made it.

Oh yeah and email me something that you have written.

You'll make it!

Answer 8

You must become proficient in the art of expressing yourself using language, and that means taking English classes and getting your hands on writing tutorials and writing, writing, writing. There are many on-line writing sites you can access to help you develop your writng skills. You must also know that writing, as a career, requires discipline and a schedule to get whatever job you are working on completed. Good luck. Oh, in closing, there are a multitude of good writers right here on Yahoo answers.

Answer 9

Have you checked out Meetups.com?

They have a ton of writers groups - people, with the common interest of writing, getting together to support each other! People with great skills, little skills, people that know what they want and those who are just beginning to test the waters, get together for the love of writing and learn from each other!

I too, am interested in becoming a writer. I joined a group that meets every two weeks. We share and critic our work, encourage each other, rejoice and laminate together.

In my group (which boasts 55, yet I have yet gone to a meeting that was more than 13 at a time), we have newspaper reporters, screen play writers, poets, all sorts of book writers, magazine article writers, etc.

They come from all sorts of back grounds - college, business school, night school, highschool, tradeschool, drop outs...

I have had such a great experiance with my group, that I highly recommend getting with one and see how your enthusiasm and skills soar!

Good luck and I hope to read something from you in the future!

Answer 10

Step One...and this is THE BIG ONE...WRITE

Step two...if you truly have the talent to write....then, upon completion, editing, and thoroughly polishing to your manuscript to absolute perfection (or some semblance thereof)..then draft and mail about a gazillion (or semblance thereof)query letters to publishing houses, agents, etc...

Step three....accept about a gazillion rejection slips in reply.

Step four....repeat steps 2 and 3 until you get one letter of acceptance.



EASY RIGHT?