Freedom Writers
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IMDB rating: 7.40 Plot: A young teacher (Swank) inspires her class of at-risk students to learn tolerance, apply themselves, and pursue education beyond high school. |
Actors: Dempsey Patrick,Glenn Scott,Mario,Montalvo Sergio,Finn Jason,Wyatt Deance,Chavarria Gabriel,Parrish Hunter,Garcia Antonio,Drama,
I'm in a life crisis with my career.I'm now romancing the idea to become a writer, but where would I start?
I’m currently working in the I.T. industry. I have serious doubts of where I want to go with it, as the freedom to be creative is not really available to me.
I really love the thought of becoming a creative writer.To be able to express myself through a novel, screenplay, or a newspaper article. But to do this professionally, where do I start? Is it necessary to complete a degree? Should I write something, and send it to publishers? Should I contact newspapers and magazines to give me a shot at an article?
Advice from a professional writer would be much appreciated.
Wow, what great contributions! All the advice has really opened my eyes to how I should approach my writing career.
I must thank all contributors for the effort in your answers, and will leave ‘best answer’ to the vote.
Want to personally thank: Eibhlinn Savage, akaMaryn & Inconsolate61 for such overwhelming thorough answers, like wow! really appreciate the time spent to help out
I’m eons away from being self-supporting by writing, but I’ve got sales, so consider me semiprofessional.
This is a perfectly decent dream–and a hell of a long shot. I know hundreds of writers, most online but several locally, and only a handful make enough to support themselves. All the others, including published novelists and optioned screenwriters, have another source of income.
So Recommendation One, leave IT if you must, but don’t stop working. You need a source of income.
Recommendation Two, forget about more formal education. A degree won’t help you write something good enough to sell. A fiction writing course may help you learn some of the ways authors approach a novel and may help you with writing better, but you already write a coherent question with proper punctuation and other writing mechanics. That’s all you need to proceed with…
Recommendation Three, start writing. Get serious about it. Decide on a single focus (novels, short stories, non-fiction articles, how-to book, memoir, poetry, screenplay, etc.). Then use the BIC method. That’s your butt in chair for a set amount of time every day, minimum 30 minutes. (An hour or more is better. You want to write or not?) During BIC time you have two options, and only two. You may write, or you may not write. You can’t be online, have the TV on in the background, text or tweet, play a computer game, do writing-related research, read what you’ve already written, adjust your outline, eat, smoke, drink, or anything else. Write or don’t, period. Most days, you’ll write. On the best days, you’ll ‘catch fire’ and go beyond your assigned time, which is great. However, you can’t amass credit. The next day, you still owe the same amount of BIC time as every other day.
Recommendation Four, join at least one professional writing site. I like http://absolutewrite.com/forums/index.ph p?referrerid=88 , although there are others. Read all the posts made in the last year about writing and marketing the kind of writing you’re doing. Read critiques of similar work. Offer critiques. Post your own work for critique.
Recommendation Five, don’t do this unless you can accept failure. The statistic thrown around is that about two percent of all novels ever see paid publication. Nobody can cite a source, but there’s general agreement that it sounds about right.
akaMaryn | Jan 23, 2010
first off, write what you know. write what interests you. as with any writing i do it for me, and consider myself hard to please. so i figure, hey, if i like it, others just might to. but always write what you know.
Jesse | Jan 23, 2010
you go dude you follow your dreams! lol
Lynno | Jan 23, 2010
start by writing a book. Then you need to find an agent that likes it and he’ll send it off to publishers. My husband was thinking of being a writer when he was younger and sent his two books to a few publishers who all replied they only read what comes to them through agents.
As to the magazine/newspaper writing you don’t absolutely need a degree. This business is about who you know and how you write (my father is a journalist). I suggest you start writing again. Write articles, send them off and see if someone likes it. If they do they might give you a shot at writing something else. Go for smaller publications (local newspapers, small magazines), the larger ones won’t go near you if they don’t know you through previous published articles. If you happen to know someone who works at a magazine’s or newspaper, ask them if they slip in your name. That’s how my husband got to write an article in our local newspaper. He knew the editor through work and they talked and the editor found out my husband is a fan of some small England soccer team who happens to be the team that the manager of our local soccer team is originally from, so he decided to use that link for an article.
Eibhlinn Savage | Jan 23, 2010
I can understand your pain. Worked in the area for a time myself. I also write. Thing to do is, start writing. Short stories, novels, flash, whatever. Join an on-line writing group, or a local one. I even run one or two. If you want to go for some reasonably paying career involving writing, consider journalism classes, and involving education counselors. Check out publisher sites and submission guidelines. look up articles and advice columns on writing. Ask your employer if they use technical writers, see what avenues there are. In short, become aware. Be aware also that career positions in writing are not as prolific as in I.T. Nor do most of them get you away from deadlines, stress, aggravation, or money problems. Worse, if anything. Freelancing and Novel writing are long shots and long roads, require superhuman effort often, and require dedication, and a lot of self discipline. One point. Writers write. They mostly do not need an ulterior incentive to do so. Good, bad, or indifferent, they write. To get better, they write more. Are you the kind of person who sees himself writing as a hobby? For the pleasure of it? Just because? My advice, don’ t quit your day job just yet. Change fields if you must. I encourage you to write, get informed, and write more. If it develops into something, great. .
inconsolate61 | Jan 23, 2010
Start with your heart.
Go for your dream.
Never let doubts eat at you from unsupportive peers or critics.
Learn your heart, than follow what calls to you.
Yellowspotlight89 | Jan 25, 2010
Tags: 2007, Chavarria Gabriel, Dempsey Patrick, Drama, Finn Jason, Garcia Antonio, Glenn Scott, Mario, Montalvo Sergio, Parrish Hunter, Wyatt Deance
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