McAnally's (The Community Pub) > Author Craft
How Do I Start As An Author?
Snowleopard:
Thanks - figured it was time to look a little more festive. ;D
The Deposed King:
My advice is you can't let anyone stop you. On top of that the worst enemy in this battle is not anyone on the outside. Your worst enemy is yourself.
As I started wanting to be a writer. My first enemy was my inability to write fast enough. My mind would race ahead and my twenty words a minute couldn't keep up. I'd get discouraged and stop. Then I was blessed to meet my future wife and cursed to be separated for a year while we worked on the fiance visa. My writing speed improved.
Then my enemy became all the people who'd just say I couldn't get through the first chapter it was so roughly written but didn't actually help me fix it. But really the problem was with myself. I needed to focus on my inability to write cleanly. I was discouraged and stopped again. That is still a failing of mine but I'm both better at it and able to cope and find work arounds. For instance my brother is helping me and I'm focusing more on books from established authors. I open them not to read but to see how they constructed their dialog and paragraphs.
Then my next enemy was all those cheap kindle books out there I could read for less than a buck. Who wants to take the laborious time needed to write a book when there was all this fun stuff to read out there. But you guessed it again. I'm the problem.
I think its the same thing with editors and agents and all that. Its not that blasted editor who won't give you a chance or people online who won't tell you what to do. All of that can either be found on the internet from a few hours of searching or honestly your work isn't worthy yet. Self-domination is the key. You must master yourself and refuse to let your discouragement, your lack of inspiration or any discouraging comments from others slow you down. And in this day and age there is no excuse for blaming the editor, or agent or cover artist, for the reason you can't publish a book. Any yahoo with a lap top can post their book on Amazon for 'free' and then your works aren't in the hands of some (dirty so and so _____ insert name) its directly in the hands of your readers. And son if you want to blame the consumers for not liking your works, then you are looking at the wrong business and need to rethink things.
The Deposed King
USMCWolf:
Thank you to all of you that took the time to reply to my question. Sorry I haven't responded sooner, but my life got very busy once I arrived on Okinawa. All of your advice was very helpful as well as the links provided.One day, I hope to write well enough to reflect all the help given to me.
trboturtle:
If you want advice, go here: http://kriswrites.com/business-rusch-publishing-articles/the-business-rusch-publishing-series/ When/if you want to start writing as a business...
Craig
Darwinist:
Best advice I can give but always never seem to follow: Depending on the genre, if your character is in a jam that you can reasonably see a way out of from a mile away, go back and break his/her legs.®
/not really trademark
//slashies are fun
Navigation
[0] Message Index
[#] Next page
[*] Previous page
Go to full version