Goodreads asked Richard C. White:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Richard C. White When I get asked this question by a new writer, the first thing I ask them is what are they currently reading? Good writers are voracious readers, and not only in their genre. An aspiring writer should be familiar with the genre they're wanting to write in simply because you should know what the tropes are and which ones have been done to death (both recently and over time). What might seem new and exciting to a beginning author might have been "the next big thing" ten years ago and agents and publishers might be sick and tired of it right now. Which is not to say don't do it if it's the story you really, really want to tell - just understand you're going to have to not only hit a home run with it, but probably a grand slam to get someone's attention.

However, along with being familiar with your genre, you should be familiar with other genres and other strong writers. You can learn a lot from seeing how people put sentences together, how do they evoke emotions from their readers, how do they make "you" want to turn the next page? Don't be afraid of a different genre, to include non-fiction.

And speaking of non-fiction, it helps to do your research, no matter your genre. No one is going to expect you to be a subject matter expert on everything, but little things like having your characters traveling on actual streets in NYC would help keep the reader into the story. There's nothing worse than running into a factual error to make your readers stop. Either they simply quit reading because if you can't be chuffed enough to make sure whether 34th Street runs east-west or north-south in Manhattan, then why should they bother reading any further. Or else, now they start reading your story looking for more errors. Either way, you've yanked them out of the story for something you could have easily solved with a few minutes on Google or a visit to a library.

Finally, I always recommend new authors become familiar with the business side of writing. Do your research and know what industry standards are so you can make a good decision when it comes time to signing your work away OR whether you should self-publish. I highly recommend authors become familiar with Writer Beware (http://www.sfwa.org/other-resources/f...) and visit our blog at http://accrispin.blogger.com. Yes, I said, our, since I'm one of the three current members of the Writer Beware team.

Remember writing is an art, but publishing is a business. Make yourself smart about both sides before you send your manuscript out into the cold, dark world. *grin*

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