Uncertainty is a fundamental part of the writing profession. It permeates every part of the job, from uncertainty about what to write about to uncertainty about whether what you write will ever be published and if you’ll make enough to survive.
During the early stages of a writing career, though, the uncertainty can be excessive, sometimes crippling. What am I doing? How does anybody get started as a writer? Am I any good? Is there a future for me? The questions go on and on.
It will take a lifetime to answer some of the questions you have — in fact, most writers admit that there is a lot of guesswork and faith involved in writing. But other questions have real answers, and the earlier you seek those out, the better off you will be.
In an effort to answer some of the preliminary questions you might have, here is a brief guide to the early part of a writer’s career path:
The Early Years
It is a common misconception or assumption that to be a successful writer you have to go to school for creative writing, or even English for that matter. Some authors are just gifted and able to construct beautiful stories, novels, or poems naturally.
This doesn’t mean that you shouldn’t major in English, or take any English classes, but rather that you don’t have to if you have other academic interests. John Grisham, the mystery novelist, majored in accounting before his writing career took off.
Of course many authors do major in English, if only because of their deep and abiding love for the written word. David Foster Wallace, one of the great novelists of the last century, majored in English and Philosophy, and went on to receive an MFA in creative writing. So the choice is yours.
Should you choose to go to school for writing, look for classes that challenge you, that force you to expand your horizons, such as poetic forms classes, and classes in story or character development that focus on form rather than experimentation. Classes like these often provide the theoretical and formal background that many aspiring authors believe are unnecessary — only to later regret not having taken them.
Don’t overload your schedule with literature classes, especially early on. This is partially because it is impossible to read the number of books you will certainly be assigned if you take too many at once, but also because it is extremely important to cultivate other interests and specialties. Being interested in and knowing about more than just English will actually improve your writing, and enrich your life, giving you inspiration and respite from writing when you need it.
This goes for your job, as well, meaning you might want to consider going into a field other than writing if you plan to write for a living. What does that mean? Speaking from experience, it is very difficult to write your novel after eight hours of writing at your desk job — and you won’t be paying the bills with your novels right out of college, so you’ll need a day job. You don’t want to get burned out on writing by having a technical writing job while trying to get through your first book of short stories. Some people do it, but just know that it is exhausting, and can feel suffocating.
Write often; most people have a few years of terrible writing that just needs to be written, so do it quickly. This is not supposed to be discouraging. Almost any published authors will tell you that their early work was embarrassing. But they will also tell you that it was extremely important for them to get that writing out — the more you write, the more you can learn from your mistakes, and the better writer you will be in the future.
This guest post is contributed by Angelita Williams, who writes on the topics of online courses. She welcomes your comments at her email Id: angelita.williams7 @gmail.com.
