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Advice for
Beginners
So you wanna be a
writer when you grow up, huh?
Don't become a writer. Not for money. Not for glory. Not for any reason
unless you have a passion in your gut that is so strong that nothing
can prevent you from writing. Unless you have stories in you that you
must tell, and writing them is as important to you as eating and
sleeping and breathing. And sometimes more important.
With that out of the
way, I assume you have
passion. So, what do you do with this life of yours to pave your way to
the writing world? Read. Observe. Write. Live. Those are the four main
ingredients to preparing yourself to write.
Read everything
you can get your hands on. Read classic literature, read literary
fiction, read commercial fiction. Read books on the craft of writing.
Read books on writers. Read dictionaries. Read cereal boxes. Just read.
Observe. If
there is one attribute a writer must have (other than his passion to
write), it is the ability to notice details. What is it about the way a
woman walks that captures your attention? Is it her clothes? Her
figure? Her wiggle? What words could you use to describe the preacher's
snorts between shouts? What do his eyes look like when he says "Hell"?
What keeps his hair from falling into his eyes (or onto the floor)?
Look at your
surroundings as though you're showing
them to someone who's never been to your area. Notice the sounds you
would hear if you listened. Notice the smells, the colors, the
textures, everything you normally take for granted. Think of new ways
to describe old things.
Write every
day. It doesn't matter if it's a dozen words or a dozen pages, write.
And don't limit your writing to your passion—try
writing poetry, fiction, journal entries, or essays. Keep a journal or
notebook with you at all times and jot your thoughts as you think them.
Live. Can
you write about New York City if you've never been there? Probably —if
you've seen enough movies and read enough descriptions, you could write
with integrity about a city you've never seen. However, you would not
be able to add new insight. As a writer, visit as many places as you
possibly can, but also consider actually living in as many different
types of places as you can. Yes, you can get superficial impressions of
cultures during a seven-day vacation, but to truly understand a
culture, you need to experience it more deeply. The places you go will
leave an imprint on you and on your writing.
Experience as many
aspects of life as you can. Can
you really understand the pain of heartbreak if you've never been loved
and left? Can you understand the intensity of a mother's (or father's)
love if you've never experienced it? Can you understand the thrill of
surviving the bunny slope on downhill skis if you've never put your
life at stake?
This isn't to say you
must become an alcoholic to
understand alcoholism (although it does help) or a bank robber to
understand a thief. What it does mean is that writers need to take more
chances than the average Joe, need to experience more of life in order
to write more knowledgeably. It also means that writers must have empathy to understand people and
situations beyond their personal experience.
What kind of job
should you hold while waiting to
publish? Well, many successful writers have had successful careers in
business, law, medicine, education or any area you can think of before
becoming published. However, I think it is best if you don't get too
comfortable in another career; work at something you don't like and
change jobs often. This way, you will never forget your passion for
writing or your drive to publish. (Just don't go into debt. Live humbly
and within your means, because once you sign that car loan, you are
obligated to your 8-5 job.)
Some suggestions:
- Work with people from diverse backgrounds, such
as those you can meet in airports, resorts, hotels and restaurants.
This give you plenty of characters to draw on.
- Work physically. Manual work doesn't occupy your
mind. Let your creative juices flow while you wash dishes or mop
floors.
- Work where you have free time to write. Look for
jobs such as a night desk clerk, a night guard at a business, a bowling
alley clerk (on the slow shift), a car lot attendant, and so on.
There are two aspects
to writing—the
craft and the art. The craft is that which you can learn—grammar,
using active voice, the basics of dialogue, and so forth. The art is
the God-given talent that a writer is either blessed with or isn't. It
is the ability to "see" the details in a setting and relay them in
interesting, unique words to make the reader feel the location. It is
the ability to understand human nature and empathize with even the most
dastardly villain. If you have that talent, and if you have that
passion to write no matter what the odds, you are a writer.
And nobody can take
that away from you.
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