Ten Tips for Would Be Writers (Creative Writing)

Member Name: FairyG

Product:	Creative Writing
Date:	23/02/09 (185 review reads)
Rating:

Advantages: People pay you for your words...

Disadvantages: ... but not often.

I've noticed a lot of people on Dooyoo want to be writers, so I thought I'd pass on some things that have worked for me. I've been writing in some form or another since my teens, with some success.

1.If you feel you've got some writing talent, but haven't a clue what to do with it, join a writer's group. They're all over the place: school evening classes, colleges and libraries. A writing tutor will give you exercises to stimulate your imagination, and assignments to write at home. You can then read out and discuss your work with the group. Be prepared to take criticism and improve your work. A group where everyone just politely praises each other's work is probably a pleasant social group, but you'll never get any better. I was in an excellent writer's group for twenty years and most of us got published in some way or won competitions (I've won a couple). The tutor went on to become an award winning children's author. Eventually I felt I'd gained all I could from the group and went on to do a degree in English Studies and Performing Arts.

2.Whatever you want to write, make sure you read a lot of the same kind of thing. I've written twist-in-the-tale stories for women's magazines in the past and did my research by reading magazines everywhere, in the bath, in the doctors waiting room or while eating a meal. They're not something I normally like to read, but it helped me earn some money for a while.

3.If you want to write, treat it like a job. Don't wait for inspiration to strike, because it won't. It's waiting for you to go and find it. Go and sit at your computer at a set time every day and work on something until it's finished. You might feel it's rubbish, but you can always get it out another day and rewrite.

4.Do a spelling and grammar check on manuscripts and send them off looking immaculate with double line spacing, a good sized margin and printed on one side only. Always send a stamped addressed envelope to publishers if you hope for a reply.

5.Always be prepared to change something if an editor asks you to. It's no good being protective about your work and never selling it!

6.Rewrite, rewrite, rewrite! Your first version of something is unlikely to be ideal.

7.Don't show your friends, partner or parents. They'll just say it's wonderful whether it's true or not.

8.Don't write a story then try and think of somewhere to send it. Choose a target market first, such as a specific magazine. Read the magazine and find out about what kind of reader will buy it by studying the stories and features. Aim your story at that reader.

9.Buy or borrow the Writer's Handbook or Writers and Artists Yearbook. Both are published annually and offer invaluable up to date advice on such things as bursaries for writers, competitions, and addresses of book publishers, magazine publishers and agents. Publishers will also state whether they are willing to look at unsolicited manuscripts, which can save you wasting your time.

10.Don't tell anyone what you're intending to write until you've got it written down first. Once you've told people the story you've got it out of your system and won't feel like writing it any more. It will just come out flat.

'While it is impossible to make a competent writer out of a bad writer, and while it is equally impossible to make a great writer out of a good one, it is possible with lots of hard work, dedication and timely help, to make a good writer out of a merely competent one.' (page 110, On Writing, by Stephen King).

Summary: Good luck!