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I'm curious as to what event or events cause you to believe in yourself as a writer--that you have what it takes to succeed, even if you need to work to get there.
For me, in high school, I was always impresed by the writers (all female, as it turns out) that could write pretty sentences. I always believed I wasn't very good because I don't write flowery--not my style. Those flowery writers would compliment my work and that must have stuck in my head.
Later, when I was working on my masters degree, I took the writing placement test and tested out of having to take the class. The test was to write an essay on a certain theme. I decided to write the essay as a piece of fiction, and it obviously worked. That gave me confidence, and then selling non-fiction reinforced it, and I've worked hard to improve since then.
[This message has been edited by Spaceman (edited August 05, 2005).]
posted
I think I can succeed because I'm serious about it. In high school, I had friends who sat around talking about what life would be like when they were famous authors. While they did that...I was busy writing. Even when it wasn't fun. And somehow, all those other "writers" I knew never finished a story, and only wrote now and again. I write every day. So I guess I trust in my stubbornness. I'm going to keep doing this, doing this every day to my very best ability, and one day my very best is going to be good enough for an editor.
Posts: 189 | Registered: Jul 2005
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I don't want to offend anyone (or sound like a jerk) by saying this, but sometimes, when I'm getting discouraged and I wonder if I will ever be able to even finish my latest book attempt (much less get it published), I go onto the Fragments and Feedback board so I can see the latest moron post the first of an absolutely horrible crap piece of fiction and then complain that "the 13 line rule really sucks becuase this story only gets interesting at page 47" and then get ticked off when anybody tries to actually give him any real advice or critiques on the work. Then I think, "ok, if this guy can finish a novel, I can."
Seriously though, I think one of the things that made me believe in myself most was finally realizing that the actual published novels, even by my favorite authors aren't really that great. I was working on my first attempt to write a full length novel (the styrofoam planet one, actually), and I was reading OSC's "Unfinished Sonatra" collection, and just as I finished the last story in the collection (which, IIRC, was the Unfinished Sonatra) I realized that I not only hated that story, I pretty much hated the entire book. This was proabably my favorite scifi author, and I had just hated my way through half a donen of his early short stories. And I'm thinking, “I could do better than /that/,” and then it finally hit me: I /could/ do better than that. I really could. And all of a sudden my whole mindset changed, where instead of thinking of published authors as these superhero semigods that I used to, I realized that I could just as easily be a professional writter as any other career choice I might pick.
Well, it probably sounds stupid the way I described it here, but I think that was really the moment that made the difference for me. I no longer think that perhaps someday I might maybe be so blessed and lucky as to possibly be able to get one of my books published; I honostly believe that ten (or even five) years from now I will have left my other career behind and be working as a professional author. And when I think of it as a serious plan, and not just a crazy dream, it's the whole process a lot easier.
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I'm envious of people who know at a young age what they want to do. I didn't start writing until I was 28 and for me it was a sudden change from a techno-geek (not computers, but math & science & machinery) to writing. I found that I enjoyed writing and had stories I wanted to tell. So I write. As for succeeding in the literary world, only time will tell.
Posts: 266 | Registered: Mar 2004
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I don't know if I will succeed. I hope so, and if I do it will be for the following reasons:
1. It's my dream. You have to start there, but I hear so many people say, "I'd love to write." or, "Oh, you're a writer! I keep wanting to write x." so let's go on to #2...
2. It's my goal. "The difference between a dream and a goal is a plant." -- Dr. Phil -- I absolutely love that statement. It sums it up soooo beautifully. What differentiates me from those people who say, "Oh, I've been wanting to write." or "I've written some poetry before." is that I'm not just sitting around daydreaming all day...at least, not any more than what is required for the job. I write. Every day. Well, Monday through Friday you'll find me here either writing, critiquing, researching, etc. I have a plan. My plan is to write and write and write. Then my plan is to submit. When my first novel doesn't sell (and I don't entirely expect that it will, though I'm still trying) I'll get my second novel out there I'm 50k words in (about halfway through though I'll probably need to rewrite). When I say I'm a writer I don't mean I want to be a writer, I mean I write.
3. I write every day.
4. I submit short stories and novels and keep submitting them.
5. I research my field. I know what I'm talking about. About two years ago I decided to do this full time after I got married (which happened a few months later). If this was going to be my job, then I was going to mean it. I went to boot camp, read several books on writing, started posting to forums, startied asking for critiques, started taking them seriously instead of personally, began to see patterns and learn what was what. I know a lot about markets for fantasy and science fiction. I can tell you what Analog wants vs. Realms of Fantasy vs. F&SF (even if I can'ts eem to sell there ).
6. I'm a competent writer. I'm no poet and never wanted to be. In fact, I can't stand poetry. But I write good, sometimes even compelling, material. It is grammatically correct, spelled correctly, professional, etc.
Number six is huge, actually. One of the reasons I stopped reading F&F (the main one, actually) was that a lot of the writing I saw there had not even overcome spelling and grammar issues that made it difficult to read. I've critiqued some of thse pieces before, but it's a mistake. If you haven't mastered #6, you'r enot a seroius writer. Period. You won't succeed until you take it seriously and learn #6. I suppose that means it should be #1.
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I've had stories in my head since I was a little kid. I read a lot---A LOT (still do) growing up (grounded meant I wasn't allowed to go to the library) and I think I just picked things up.
The stories in my head never go away, but it helps to orgainize them by writing them down.
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I don't really think I'll succeed. I think my writing is better than much that I see published, but I don't see that as very relevant.
Maybe I'm just having a bad day. Yesterday, I got 4 rejections, and then I listened to a talk by a publicist (for non-fiction) on how to get a 6-figure book advance. Admittedly, most of what she said was for non-fiction . . . but it seems that Madonna has "written" children's books. (They're ghost-written.) Jamie Lee Curtis, ditto. William Shatner has his name on some SF books. The way to impress a publisher is to already be a star. I've been working on the wrong thing! And yet it's what I love.
I don't want to be a star, and I don't want to be a career writer whose books always sell even when they're practically unreadable (naming no names, but I suspect you can think of some). I don't want a lecture circuit. I want to write stories and have people read them, because they're touched by them, not because I'm God or got on Oprah.
Grumble, grumble. I'll go eat an ice cream and feel better.
posted
I don't think I've ever thought I could make it as a writer (except one time at fourteen, where I took it for granted that I was going to make millions ). I don't write to "make it". I write because I like to. I've finished short stories (though not a great many of them) and I've been working on a novel for a year and a half. As frustrating as it sometimes is, and as many times as I start over (habitually, it seems), I keep at it because it's fun and challenging.
To be honest, the idea of submitting anything, of putting myself out there to be (more likely than not) slapped down by someone who thinks my writing is immature or banal...it's kind of daunting. I have trouble talking to members of my own family sometimes. The submitting process would probably give me an anxiety attack.
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cvgurau, you're not seeing rejection the right way. I was just trying to figure out how to tell you this when I remembered that I got two rejections today...it just kind of struck me. Hey, didn't I get a rejection or two today? Yeah, I did. Know what I did then? I sent the stories out to someone else! So they are no longer rejected, they are once again under consideration.
Posts: 3567 | Registered: May 2003
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posted
I thought my ideas for fantasy/sci-fi novels were pretty good, but am slowly realizing that marijuana might have ruined my ability to learn. Yay for memory loss...
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I think "successful" means something different to everyone, and it means something different over the course of your writing life, too.
One of the most important criteria for me is writing something that lives up to my own standards, something that I read and think "geeze, that's good." Hardly ever happens and I'm not particularly confident that I'll ever be successful by that definition.
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I thought Yoda's most famous line was, "How you get so big eating food of this kind?"
The success question is interesting. I define success as having people that like my writing, want to read my writing, and tell me that they wished the story didn't end.
posted
For me, the turning point was the result of a personal challenge. I had just finished reading a horrible story--a fanfic piece--and thought, "I can write better than that." So I tried, fully intent on writing a short story, 69,000 words later I had decided I could do this. I could write a book.
The rest, as they say, is history. (How's THAT for a cliche?)
posted
Mine came from a bit of recollection. It occurred after I had written a short story intro for a character in a role playing game. I had one friend tell me I did really well. Then I had other people ask me to write theirs. Shortly after I thought back to when I was in the 5th grade. The teacher did a creative writing event. She took an overhead projector, a clear plastic container of water and some food coloring. She would put a drop or two in and we had to write a few lines about what we saw. When I turned my paper in the teacher was impressed with what I had done and sent me to 5 different class teachers and the principle to show my work. I was too young to realize this was a good thing. It happened again when I wrote a haiku (with drawings) about a rose, the moon and some dew. Once I remembered the incident, and thought about all the time I've held a captive audience with story telling, I got the idea that maybe I have a chance. I very much love to tell stories and have many people in different states who support my ability. The next step is to write and submit, and see if it really stands up. Posts: 233 | Registered: Jul 2005
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posted
I first thought, rather naively, that I could be a "successful" writer of fiction not all that long ago. My definition of success is now "able to support myself and my family financially by writing a reasonable number of hours a week."
I thought this because in grad school, I wrote many very long papers, and almost always got good grades on them. I knew that I do very good research when I have access to good sources, my analytical reasoning skills are very strong, and my grammar skills are above average, even for writers. Turns out that there's more to being a successful writer of fiction than being able to do good research, think through arguments, and write without oodles of grammatical oopsies.
But I still think it's possible for me to succeed. The biggest hurdle I had to overcome was the "but I don't have any story ideas"; the Liberty Hall flash challenges have settled that concern. Now I think the biggest thing standing between me and success as a writer of fiction is determined work, rather like Christine.
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I only started writing seriously about three and a half years ago when I--like Dakota--put down a book and said, "Wow, that sucked!" for the tenth time in a row. So I picked up my lap top and three months and 55,000 words later I had a novel in my hands. Granted, it sucked, but I'd done it. And what do you know, I loved it. I'd never had so much fun in my life.
I already feel like I'm a success. And no I'm not trying to be cliche, I love to write and that's what I do. I'm blessed to be able to stay home with my kids and regale them all day with tall tails and flash at Liberty Hall and stick my head in a book until the wee hours of the night (how I arise each day without an eject button is a mystery). I'm really having fun!
Someday I hope to be published, and I see that as something only I have control over. It's like poker (now this is definitely cliche)...you play the odds and sometimes you win and sometimes you lose, but if you don't play you always lose (I just keep banking on the "sometimes you win" part). Christine is right...just submit, submit, submit, and then submit again.
Mind you, this is a good day. If I'd have written this last week it would have been all about jumping my bike off a cliff or something equally daft.
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Well, my standardized testing scores and subsequent exemption from the only required class (primary writing) at the University didn't hurt too much. (I was one of only three to be granted that exemption.)
But I think the real turning point for me was my road trip with my two best friends, Caiti and Pechous, to New York City. We were there during the blackout. So, we sat in the hotel all night, telling each other stories. When I told them about my WIP, Caiti said she'd really REALLY like to read it someday. Pechous agreed. These two are very supportive people, but they don't express it so strongly unless they really mean it. I think it was that validation that made me sure I could write and have my writing enjoyed by others.
The feedback I get here doesn't hurt one bit, either. You guys rock my world.
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Orson Scott Card has commented that writers usually get their inspiration to become authors because 1)they read something written by someone else and think: "I could write better than that!" or 2) they read something written by someone else and think: "This is incredible! I want to be able to write like this!"
I wrote only on rare occasions as a kid. I was more into art. When I was in my early twenties, I began to wrestle with the fact that there was a story in my head and characters trying to come out. I spent a week or so telling myself, "This is stupid. Who am I to try to write a story? You'll never finish the stupid thing." Finally, I gave in and began writing, just to get it out of my system. Funny thing is, it never got "out" of my system. I typed for months, got a really cliche'd crappy draft out for part of a story, then after I had kids I put it in a box (where it still sits on a shelf.) That particular story itself isn't good, but I banged out enough of it that I began to teach myself how to write.
About ten years ago I got back into writing by participating in stories on a local BBS, and eventually gravitated to online Play-By- Email Role-Playing Games--which meant I was writing again. I got numerous compliments on my writing, which gave me some confidence. And best of all, I remembered what had captivated me in my early twenties about writing... it was exhilarating and fun!! I loved it.
It's only been this past year that I've decided I've written enough material to qualify for a book. I decided to get serious and learn about publishing, improving my skills, and honing my writing. I'm working on rewriting my Appallingly Overlarge Novel, and with the help of my Hatrack Critique group am trying to tighten it into a well-crafted first draft.
Do I have a shot at being published? I was a little uncertain until last winter, when my cousin was coming for regular visits. I had mentioned the story to her, so she asked me to tell her something about it. I did, then each time she came, she asked for an update. Her interest was genuine and she seemed to be captivated by the story in progress. It gave me hope that it wasn't just my own opinion the story was good, that maybe I really DO have a chance.
[This message has been edited by Elan (edited August 06, 2005).]
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Minister: Being able to live off your writing is what I would call overwhelming success.
For those who wrote novels (and I am one), I must say congratulations on finishing it. You are ahead of almost everyone who wants to write a book. If you are like me, you probably learned more during that novel than you did with any class you took.
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At first I guess I was motivated by the first of the two OSC comments Elan mentions. But as I started both reading more about writing and trying to read stuff with an eye for technique, I started thinking more along the lines of the second OSC comment.
Of course, working with some of you here has been an education, too, and I've been quite in awe at times of the quality of the work... sometimes also a bit intimidated, but I just want to work that much harder for it.
posted
I failed quite a bit before I felt I could succeed as a writer.
In high school, my English class would have us write something and then read it aloud to the class. Did this a couple of times, once with a poem, and another time with something that I don't even want to remember. Both times tanked. The teacher still gave me a good grade, but it didn't mean much because none of my classmates had been impressed. They all just sat there with glazed eyes, and I couldn't wait to get to my next class (math; boy is it bad when I want to go to math.)
The next year, we were told to write a three-page story, and I parodied Jack and the Beanstalk. From the moment I stepped up and read, the whole class was in the palm of my hand. I had them laughing and excited, and by the time I finished, when they clapped, they really meant it. The guy I sat next to was so taken with this one line I made that he wrote it down in his notebook so he'd never forget it.
After that, I figured that if I could improve that much over a year, imagine how good I could really be. And I've had several confirmations since then that I am still getting better.
posted
I think I've succeeded as a writer. Of course, my goal was to be a published writer and to maybe make a living at it, but one can't have everything...
Posts: 8809 | Registered: Aug 2005
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quote: Orson Scott Card has commented that writers usually get their inspiration to become authors because 1)they read something written by someone else and think: "I could write better than that!" or 2) they read something written by someone else and think: "This is incredible! I want to be able to write like this!"
I'm definitely a member of the the number 2 group. I have felt so moved at times while reading a story that it's absolutely magical to me. That magical feeling, a very deep seeded desire to create and a good deal of pleasure derived from communicating are my motivations. If I'm able to accomplish those three things I will have been successful.
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I don't think I'm from either of those groups. :P
My desire to be a writer actually came about when I was in 8th grade. For my English class, we were required to write two separate pieces that where about whatever we wanted them to be about. I wrote an essay for one of them, but the other I decided to do as a piece of fiction. So I wrote a short story about a boy trying to escape persecution in the Middle East (after having read a book on that topic). After I handed the story in, my teacher was so impressed with it, he read it aloud to all of his English classes and throughout the day, I received many compliments on my story. Many people told me that they thought it would make an excellent book. All of that gave me the confidence that I could write and succeed at it.
Later on, I actually did turn that short story into a novel, but I have since changed the setting to a fantasy setting because it was too difficult for me to accurately describe Middle Eastern culture and customs in the detail it needed to be in for a book.
I do not doubt that someday the story that started it all will somehow find its way into bookstores.
I remember having to write a paper in the 9th grade and just hating it. Memorizing Shakespeare in 10th didn't help much either. (I have one poem that's been stuck in my head since 10th grade that just won't go away.) I never even considered writing until later on (28 I think I mentioned on another thread). I was a math and science geek in high school.
I work in a power plant, have done so since I was 17. I think it took all those years of science and machinery for me to finally say -- I've had enough of this. I guess it took that long for me to realize that it wasn't my passion. It's something I do to make a living, and I'm good at it, but it's not something I want to do until I die. Writing is.
posted
I don't think I HATED writing. I was indifferent more than anything.
Maybe it was a confidence thing. I'd read some great books (back in Jr. High and High school it was a lot of Chaim Potok and Ray Bradbury--quite the combination, eh?) and probably figured I just couldn't possibly be that good, and I'm the type that doesn't pursue something if I can't do it REALLY well.
posted
I used to hate writing, surprisingly enough. When I was in elementary through middle school, being an author was one of the last things I wanted to do. I had friends that all wanted to be authors, but I didn't want anything to do with it. I thought it was one of the most boring things anyone could do. And now look at me. I write all the time and it's become one of my favorite things to do. Go figure.
Posts: 202 | Registered: Mar 2005
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posted
I realised I could write at University. If I had a reason to write something I could do a passable job. But stupid as it sounds, I need a reason to write.
I have never particularly enjoyed writing, and must say that I still don't.
Every word need to be chosen as the closest fit to whatever gap it needs to fill and then beaten into it. When you're done you have a cool machine that does... something or other.
Like Survivor, I've never been able to get fired-up with a long line of affirmations. The 'awaken the dwarf within' type statements. So when I sit down to write its like building an engine. Not much fun but it will get you somewhere.
posted
Hmmm..."the dwarf within", eh? I'm not sure what that means. But it's nice to know that I'm not the only one that didn't always want to be a writer.
Posts: 8322 | Registered: Aug 1999
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posted
I knew I wanted to write after I read The Lord of the Rings[i]. Not sure exactly why this got me started; but from 15 to about 17 I read every writing book I could get my hands on, all publishing books, before I'd ever really written anything. By the time I'd finished this bit of self-education I was completely hopeless and knew there was no point in trying, since even something quality had so little chance of getting into print.
But then a teacher (everyone has one, the teacher who changes your life) went above and beyond: she looked and some of my writing and told me I had an lively style and flare for accurate vocabulary. Something small but not at all consequential.
I stopped thinking I had the most phenomenal ego in the world and starting writing--maybe this was something I [i]could do.
And I've never stopped. Nothing makes me happier, even if no one ever publishes my stuff. Although I would like someone to publish my stuff. Jamie
posted
I've never really thought about whether or not I could succeed as a writer. I just write.
I will tell you what convinced me to try selling my stories.
Money.
That doesn't mean I thought I'd ever get rich off my writing. But the whys and hows are a bit of stretch for me to believe and almost sound like a "it was meant to be" kind of story, even though I was being very practical about writing in general, then more so than now.
However, once I'm rich and famous and people think I'm a goddess, maybe I'll tell.
posted
I didn't enjoy writing at school when my teacher changed and my new teacher obviously didn't like anything other than her genre of story. She was one of those "Ah the author has mentioned black. Watch it! This is symbolic for evil."
I write because there are stories stuck in my head and the only way to get rid of them is to write them. Success - to finish a story. So I've had my share of success. When I finish my novel(s) I'll be really successful. I don't expect to ever be able to support myself from this. To be published is enough for me.
posted
I just wanted to say that I very much enjoyed this topic, and find it very inspiring.
I know, or I think I want to be a writer, it's not a for sure thing for me. The only for sure thing for me right now is that I know I need to write the story in my mind. After I writtin it, I don't know if I still will want to be a writer. Only the future we'll tell.