Goodreads asked David Patneaude:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

David Patneaude No magic formulas or secrets, unfortunately. It boils down to reading and studying the kinds of stories you want to write, hanging around writers and other industry people who are willing to give advice and feedback, taking classes, reading good books about the craft, and getting into a critique group made up of folks who are serious about being writers. But the most important advice is just do it. You have to write. You have to write lots of bad stuff before you write something good. And then you have to be persistent. You have to be persistent with your writing, and you have to be persistent when you get those first rejections. Don't give up. If you give up, you for sure will never get published. If you don't give up, if you work hard and pay attention to criticism and what's going on around you and what the industry is doing, you just might.

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