do I need to graduate high school/college to become a writer?

Question

Well, I'm pretty sure that I'm gonna fail my senior year and not be able to go to college with my bad grades. So I'm gonna drop out and become a writer, since I'm pretty good at writing stories and poems and stuff. Do I need to gruadate to become a writer? Cause I've met people younger than me and they already got their books published, and they didn't even finish school yet, lol.

Answer 1

OK, you need to grow up. You think you are going to make a living as a writer? Kid, the typical writer will spend 2-3 years writing a novel, another two-five years finding a publisher and then get a $5,000 advance. The average book deal nets the author $10,000-$20,000. Forget Stephen King and all the million dollar deals. The typical writer cannot live on what they make, even if they get a publishing contract. Almost every sucessful writer I know has a "real job."

I'm gonna bet all the people "younger than you" with their published books used Lulu.com or a similar vanity service. A self-published book will sell between 50-100 copies. THAT'S IT.

If you want to write, that is all well and good. But if you have this pipe dream that writing is going to be your meal ticket, you are in for a rude awakening. Get your education, unless you want to spend the rest of your like asking "Do you want fries with that?"

Answer 2

You don't need an education to be a writer, but it certainly can help. Most publishers won't give your work more than a brief glance if it is filled with grammatical errors, improper syntax, etc. School will also expose you to different styles and different authors, allowing you to take what you can from them and develop a style that works well for you.
Hit the books, try to pass your senior year. Once you get to college, you can take writing and literature classes, or other things of interest to you. The worst thing that can happen is that you learn a few things. Good luck and good writing.

Answer 3

Dear, WAKE-UP! To drop out of school is a HUGE MISTAKE! And I don't know who these twits are that you have met who have had books published, but they are probably some of your little classmates who THINK publishing is what they find on-line or at some vanity press. REAL publishing is VERY DIFFICULT to get into. Real publishing is where a LEGITIMATE publisher pays the writer for the sale of their manuscript, and the book ends up in LEGITIMATE bookstores and is promoted byt he publisher. What you kids are into IS NOT REAL PUBLISHING! No one publishes poetry today except for those cheesy little on line web sites and again that isn't real publishing. No one publishes short stories today except in highly literary magazines such as the New Yorker ar AM. Get some tutoring and FINISH YOUR SENIOR YEAR. The chance you will EVER sell one of your manuscripts is remote (novels and non-fiction books are what legitimate publishers buy and they work through agents and usually take only PROVEN writers who are very good and very commercial). Again, this nonsense of kids writing books and having them published is just that: NONSENSE! Ignore all web sites that promise you publication. They take any and all people who submit their garbage. It's all fake! It's all vanity publishing (you pay to have it published), or it appears on-line on some thoroughly cheesy web site, etc. That is NOT real publishing. You know the poetry that appears here on Yahoo? That is the kind of garbage in which these web sites deal. All the stuff on Yahoo the kids write and then ask others if they like it, is GARBAGE! It isn't even real poetry. Real poetry is very hard to write and there is NO MARKET for it in the legitimate world of publishing. None of the people you have spoken to have made any money "publishing" their stuff. What is happening is they are having their stuff PRINTED. There is a HUGE difference! Writing books (real books) is very hard work and takes years to perfect. Actually making money writing is very difficult and there are very few people who do it for a full-time living. Very few!

Answer 4

At this point in your life please make education your first choice. I think you should be thinking of going to college also.

Look at Terry Brooks, perhaps one of our best Fantasy writers ever. He started his first book while still in High School... continued on with his education and became an attorney = then finally completed his book - submitted it - found a publisher - and had to do a rewrite... still while practicing law as his main income. After his 2nd book he retired from his law practice and moved to Seattle. He has now finished around 25 books.

A good writer needs to have the use of powerful words at his beck & call. Keep going to school sweetie.

Good Luck
Nesssssssst

Answer 5

I struggled through school and didn't enjoy most of it.
But I have to admit, school really did help me in many ways.
A couple of years ago there was a study that found the average pay for a writer---and this includes every category, including people who wrote just one editorial---in America was $2000 for the whole year.
Only a small percentage of writers can actually survive on what they make by writing, and most of those have salaried jobs with newspapers and magazines, or with advertising companies.
GO GET HELP to graduate. Somebody can help you, but you've got to go find them. There's no fairy godmother that's going to just show up....you've got to seek out the help you need.
I barely made it through high school because I didn't understand how important it was, then I waited a LONG time before going to college.
It was a huge mistake for me. Learn from other people's mistakes, instead of from your own, and your life will be better.


Best Wishes,
James

Answer 6

No you don't. But then again there are very few people who actually make a living at writing. Fewer still who do so with bad English.

Make sure and graduate. If not this year, then next year. Being a poor artist is not all that fun. And there isn't much you can do anymore without at least some college.

Answer 7

There are no absolutes in life. No, you don't have to graduate to become a writer. There is no rule stating how many years you have to go to school to become a great writer.

If you devote as much time now in graduating from high school as you would need to devote to writing as a career, you would probably get farther in life.

Do your younger published acquaintances make enough money writing to actually live on their own? Most writers have full time jobs to support themselves as writers. Being horribly realistic, as a high school drop out, what kind of job will you get to support yourself while you try to become rich and famous as a writer.

Answer 8

Though a diploma is not a requirement for someone to become a successful writer, it's still highly recommended for someone like you to finish your school.

I'm currently in college taking up Economics but I'm also an aspiring writer. I know being an economist wouldn't help me achieve my dreams of being a published novelist someday but I know it would give me an option if I do not succeed in writing. Plus, with me being in school, I'm able to take up Writing classes for my electives and I'm being exposed to the whole writing process by taking part in the school paper.


So don't give up on school, okay? I'm sure it would help you in achiving your dreams of becoming a writer.

Answer 9

You don't need to, but it would be good to graduate to give you options and something to fall back on.

Writers make *very* little money, if any at all.
Yes, there have been people published at 14, but they really are exceptions.

Answer 10

graduate high schoolcollege writer