Izabella Brand
asked
Emily McIntire:
How would a person, a high schooler now, go about becoming a professional writer?
Emily McIntire
The most important (and sometimes the hardest) part of being a writer is sitting down and actually writing.
You have plenty of time to publish your works, research the craft (and I'd also recommend researching business and marketing because esp, in this day and age, to be a published author is to be a brand and a business and you MUST know how to market if you want to sell your books).
Don't rush it! Writing is about letting your creativity flow and allowing your muse speak through you. I like to think of it as a muscle, practice every day so it gets stronger and easier to do, the same way that lifting weights gets easier the more you do it.
I also believe being a professional writer, or an artist of any type, means having a strong sense of self because art is extremely subjective and once it's out in the world, people will critique it, sometimes very harshly, and you have to know like you know like YOU KNOW, that you put out the art you were supposed to despite how other people may/may not engage with it.
Start following some of your favorite writers, their NL, watch how they go about doing things so you can learn, write a little every day, read books on formulating craft, join writer groups where you can connect with others and swap works to critique/enhance/improve.
Take some time to research self publishing vs. querying to become traditionally published and decide which route you'd like to take. They're both valid and you can always grow into doing both (like I do) but they're vastly different approaches.
And then just write, babyyyy!!! If I can do it, surely anyone can :)
You have plenty of time to publish your works, research the craft (and I'd also recommend researching business and marketing because esp, in this day and age, to be a published author is to be a brand and a business and you MUST know how to market if you want to sell your books).
Don't rush it! Writing is about letting your creativity flow and allowing your muse speak through you. I like to think of it as a muscle, practice every day so it gets stronger and easier to do, the same way that lifting weights gets easier the more you do it.
I also believe being a professional writer, or an artist of any type, means having a strong sense of self because art is extremely subjective and once it's out in the world, people will critique it, sometimes very harshly, and you have to know like you know like YOU KNOW, that you put out the art you were supposed to despite how other people may/may not engage with it.
Start following some of your favorite writers, their NL, watch how they go about doing things so you can learn, write a little every day, read books on formulating craft, join writer groups where you can connect with others and swap works to critique/enhance/improve.
Take some time to research self publishing vs. querying to become traditionally published and decide which route you'd like to take. They're both valid and you can always grow into doing both (like I do) but they're vastly different approaches.
And then just write, babyyyy!!! If I can do it, surely anyone can :)
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Apr 25, 2024 07:22PM · flag