08 Track 8

Review unit 2

fluency practice

review reading 3

So, You Want to Be a Fiction Writer?

Page 113

So, You Want to Be a Fiction Writer?

Before you settle on writing as a career, there are some questions you might want to ask yourself. For example, have you considered why you want to be a writer?

Perhaps the lifestyle seems romantic and glamorous. Maybe this is a dream you’ve had ever since you were young and when you’ve not let go of. But writing for a living is not easy, and before you start, you should be sure that you are doing it for the right reasons and go in with your eyes open.

An important aspect of being a writer is getting used to being alone. A professional writer must be ready to spend at least five hours a day alone, often in front of the computer. Are you ready for this degree of isolation?

While many writers are initially attracted to the idea of working for themselves, often they find it isolating in the long term. At the same time, remember that writing is a craft as well, requiring sustained intensity, precision, and extended periods of concentrated effort.

Good stories are created through immense effort.

In addition to the solitude and the hard work, there is still the mysterious question of talent. How can a person know whether he or she has talent or not? This is one of the hardest questions to answer, and there is no foolproof way of detecting talent.

Perhaps our parents and friends say we are talented, but what does this really mean? Do you have any other reason to believe that you have a gift for writing?

Perhaps you were always getting good grades at school for essay writing, or you worked on school newspapers, or one prices for your writing. Perhaps you have been published in established magazines, or have done some writing for online publications.

This shows that others beyond your immediate circle recognize your talent. Now on to what might be considered the heart of writing: inspiration and originality. Inspiration comes from inside, and often grows out of having survived or overcome certain difficulties in life.

People who have suffered seem to have more of a need to speak out. It has been said that happy people don’t make good writers. Although this is undoubtedly exaggerated, there is some truth in it.

Why would a completely happy and satisfied person take on the painful task of writing?

Originality in fiction writing can never be over emphasized. It is critical that tired old ideas and phrases do not creep into your writing. A successful work is never created according to rules or conventions.

From the first page, the reader should be greeted by a story like nothing anyone has seen before. Try to surprise your reader at every turn and make your reader say, “Wow! I never expected that to happen!”

Assuming your mind is made up to become a writer despite the many difficulties, here are a few tips that might help you on your way to a successful writing career.

First, remember that your first draft will never be perfect. It will always need work, and sometimes it will need a great deal of work. Many successful writers report and editing process of writing, rewriting, and rewriting again.

The value of the first draft may be to start developing and organizing your ideas. Sometimes, trying to repair a week story can even be worse than starting over again, and you may end up throwing out what you’ve written.

Don’t be too discouraged when this happens, and remember that you can’t create your best work every day. If your desire is to be commercially successful, it’s important to write for a large audience.

Make your best effort to be understood by the largest number of people you can. Remember that many famous artists, writers, musicians, movie makers, etc., in history have been those that people of all types − rich, poor, young, old, well educated and not-so-well educated − can appreciate and enjoy.

When you write, put yourself in the place of the reader. Try to write stories that you would like to read yourself. If you are writing a passage only because you have to or because you can’t think of anything else, your reader is certainly not going to enjoy it.

When you find yourself low on inspiration, take a break, and come back to it later. Most, if not all, good writers read as much as possible. When you read other people’s work, reflect on what makes for good writing and apply to your own work.

It’s also important to remember that, as a writer, you are a kind of educator. Make sure that you are well-informed about the things you write about. Doing research has helped many writers to create more interesting and realistic stories.

Writing is different for every individual. If a career in fiction writing is really for you, chances are you already know it deep down, and have done for some time. If so, good luck!