Joann Said:

How to be a famous writer?

We Answered:

I think you can do it. I really do believe that. But there is one thing you must do, or else you won't succeed anywhere. That is learning to listen. That means listening to that person who says, "Well I really think your main character is kind of a Mary Sue." Listen to that published writer who says, "I don't think an agent is going to take this as it is." Listen to that English teacher who says, "This is written in passive voice. You'll need to make it active." Not all advise will work for you, but listen to it and consider it.

The people who never go anywhere in anything are those who don't listen and don't take responsibility for their mistakes. They say things like "Well I told you to criticize my story and not my spelling and grammar." (As though you can separate the two.) Or "The only reason you're saying that about my story is because you're jealous." (Jealous? I guess that makes me the first person who is jealous because I don't suck.) Or "Sorry. I wrote this in a hurry." (You didn't take time to write it. Why should I take time to read it?) These have all been said here on YA! These are excuses. Rationalizing. And they're irritating because the person asks for help, but in reality they just want a big pat on the back. (As though people willing to take time and read your stuff isn't a compliment in and of itself.)

Over the years of critiquing stories I have learned there is a pattern. You can take two people. Both of them writing their first story and posting it up. Those who do not take critism well (i.e start attacking those who dare find something wrong with their work), overall have horrible writing. Whereas, those who take critism well, even for a first story, tended to write better quality stories for their level. That's because the one who takes critism is more mature, and has more mature writing. They've taken the time to make it as best they can before they posted it up. Whereas the one who doesn't, is very immature, and their writing is immature. They don't bother to take the time, because they expect everyone to call it wonderful without them putting in any effort.

Glenn Said:

How to become a writer?

We Answered:

"Writer" is a profession that can be defined in a gazillion ways. Knowing specifically what kind of writer you want to become is a good first step. Since you posted this under "Books and Authors", I take it that you want to author a book someday?

I'll be honest with you that I myself would love to someday author a book but haven't quite made it yet. I've completed a couple of novel manuscripts, but by the time I finished, I had already changed my views about the subject and no longer agree with the message I set out to send in the novel. Whereas if I were to do something as permanent as publishing a book, I'd like to think that the book I wrote will be a work that I'll continue to delve into with pride 10-20-50 years afterwards. But I think it's OK to go through this phase as well. There is nothing instant about becoming a good author. In order to become one, you need to accumulate a lot of practice in the discipline, be passionate about it, and have skin thick enough to go through rejections and aborted projects. Persistence is key!

Anyway, I did become a writer still. For many years I became a blogger and gained quite a following among friends and colleagues, but in the past 2 years or so stopped because I found that my writings had been so focused on myself, my problems, and my feelings. People followed me because they related to what I was going through. But after a few years, I started to overcome some of the challenges I had before, although a lot of feelings remained the same. I started thinking that in order to grow as a writer, I needed to stop writing about little old me and start writing about a world outside my comfort zone.

And so I got into journalism. I currently write full time for a lifestyle community magazine, juggling alongside my part time studies in university. It's a good job for a start, I get to just concentrate on one district in town, identify people and places of interest, and write either news briefs or deeper views in the form of feature stories. I love my job: I get acquainted with some amazing people, learn a lot of new things, get ideas of what I want to do for the future, and publish writings in a format that I'm proud to show the world. However, this is also a very basic entry level job in journalism in some never-heard-of magazine (don't get me wrong, it's a great quality magazine under a big news group in my country). Within 2-3 years I think I would have outgrown this job and will want to move on to higher levels in my career, perhaps by writing for a bigger publication, crossing over to more serious genres, or going into broadcast TV journalism (for which I will still have to do a lot of writing in preparing for each appearance).

Anyway, there are many different ways to become a writer. Knowing what kind you want to be is the crucial first step. Identify who you want your readers to know you as, and what subject matters do you want to specialize in. Then do lots of research. This is especially important if you want to become a non-fiction writer. But even if you want to go into fiction, research would still be crucial because you will still need to find points of communication and logic that would make your fantasy world believable to readers from the real world.

Delve into the subject matter of your choice without ceasing. Follow news and blogs that report it. Check out the latest research from the world's top universities. Travel to places where that subject matter is happening. Interview people who know about it. If possible, get into it yourself. Then after each encounter, try to write short pieces to comment about it, perhaps in a blog or a journal. Or in the case of fiction, note down some points of inspiration for storylines and characters. You may even want to write short scenes or stories inspired by the information you collected; which you may end up publishing as an individual piece, part of an anthology, or incorporate into the bigger picture of a full length novel.

Elizabeth Gilbert, author of Eat, Pray, Love, keeps a box of 3x5 cards on which she notes down random ideas that could potentially be written in a book. She categorizes these cards by subject matter, then when she has enough cards to map out a full idea, she starts writing them into a chapter. I don't practice this myself, but it is a good discipline that may help some aspiring writers.

Alexander Said:

How realistic is the idea of becoming a writer?

We Answered:

It's one of the more difficult ambitions in life owing to the erratic and often down-heartening nature of the world of authorship and publishing.

I would say continue to write, because you enjoy it, and research into literary agents and the editing and publishing processes. Some people would disapprove of your choice to be a writer [and by this I simply mean that writing is your passion, not like a job title] because as a career it is unpredictable, and most likely you will face a lot of rejection before you, if ever, get published.

This is applicable to any creative field, such as music or art. In some ways there are "too many" creative people, and many of the greats do not get any recognition in their lifetime, but no two creative people are the same. And I think to some extent creative talent is subjective and agreed by consensus.

It is not a waste of time to try. Just be aware of the difficulties. :)