Becoming An Author: What does it take?

[Writer Selbe]

Hello, everyone. I'd first like to introduce myself as Writer Selbe. Secondly, I'd like to ask you all one question. What do you think it takes to be an author: emotionally, intellectually, imagination-wise? If you want, link your work here too. I'd like to see it all.  

[Fujiwara Kazunari]

Very good question.
For me... it's all about creating something.... REAL

Doesn't matter if it has dragons, or knights, or inter-dimensional beasts, it's got to have something real behind it. Ya know...
How is it possible?
How does it work?
How do you explain it?
Is it explainable?
If not, why?
How does it interact?
What happens if X happens, along with Y?

So on, so on. Same goes with my characters.
If my character is a normal human, he is NOT going to leap off as Eleventy Billion Story building, into giant thorn bushes with sharks underneath without a scratch.
If he's a mage... well, he might break a leg, but be left exhausted.
If he uses technology, he'll have broken bones/be winded.
Or, if they don't, how? Does it make sense? Does it work?

Emotions;
If your character doesn't feel real, nothing else matters. They've got to have personallities. Loves, fears, hates, friends, morals, likes, dislikes, family, history. It's all got to be shown.

Love. Now, that's a big thing. I don't really go for this 'love at first sight' thing. Sure, someone may think 'Wow, s/he's hot. Wonder if I can get a date?' right away, but, they won't think 'I want to spend my life with you!'
Characters have to have history with each other, good and bad. Got to shape each character... put all your time into *that*, let the story grow around your characters, your world, and the history!
Don't think 'I want THAT THAT AND THAT IN MINE!', think 'Well, I have a character who can do X, a character who can do Y, a character than can do ******** all, and a crazy god with meatball meteor powers. How can this become a story?' Let it grow from there.
Just sit, think, draw, listening to music, watch videos... slip away from the world, and just think.
Put yourself in the main character shoes! Put yourself in that world! What is it like?
Do you enjoy it? Are you oppressed? Do you have special skills? How you react to people, and likewise, they react to you?

Use whatever you can that's *real*.
If it's set now, research REAL technologies, REAL theories, REAL science, REAL prototypes.
Build from there, if it's Sci-Fi set 20 years from now, are they going to have lasers? Probably not.
If they do, why?
If they don't, what do they use? M4s? M203s? SA80s? AK-47s?

If it's set in a mystial fantasy world, looks into history. Again, RESEARCH.
Look for weapons, myths, artefacts, all of it! Take it as inspiration, and let it evolve!  

[Writer Selbe]

Arakratos, that's so right! I hate when I read a book and it's completely flat. It seems a lot of literature these days is 'flat', and it has no emotion at all. I absolutely despise anything with 'love at first sight'. I don't want to hear about a human who jumps off a twenty story building without a scratch at all. Your insight is great! I hope to see more replies with such work in them!  

[Moniquill]

Writer Selbe

What do you think it takes to be an author: emotionally, intellectually, imagination-wise? If you want, link your work here too. I'd like to see it all.

Dedication.
Not single-minded dedication; writing doesn't have to be a lifestyle or a way of thinking. It doesn't have to be your everything. But you do have to be dedicated to the craft and willing to follow through. You have to be literate; reading fiction in your target genre especially. You have to be willing and able to research extensively. You have to be willing to read about writing (arguably part of research). You have to have at least a small amount of native talent in the area of storytelling, but I do believe that's very largely a learned/learnable skill rather than something inborn. You have to be a critical thinker and be able to objectively view your work and the work of others from a number of viewpoints.  

[Isaiah Moretti]

Becoming an author is probably one of the most gratifying, frighteningly real things you can do for yourself. Not for the book, not for anybody else, but for yourself. Once you feel you have written something great and you realize that somebody else agrees (IE a publishing company accepting your manuscript) there is nothing in the world that feels better or more terrifying. When I sent out my first novel (I was twelve and I'd written a children's book about a cat named Jewel globe trotting with her grandmother) I had just dropped it into the mailbox before I was struck with the sudden horror that oh dear sweet Jesus in a Jolly Jumper somebody was actually going to read it.

The trick is to get it off your desk. Once you have it written, send it out. Take the next step and start falling into that wonderful, perfect oblivion that is the endless possibilities you've created for yourself just by sending your work - don't ever forget that it's your work - out into the world to be judged.

I myself have my first rejection letter framed. You don't always get the reaction you want with your written work and that's okay. Without knowing that sometimes you'll fall down, you'll never know how to climb higher and get past it. Getting support from friends and family really helps with this. Ask them to buy you a pretty frame for it, or help you make one out of sticky notes and flower decals.



What does it take to be published? What does any one person need to be published?

In my eyes, a person needs these things before they can call themselves a successful writer (published or not):


~1~ A love for what they do

If you can't claim that you write because you love it, not because you have a deadline, you will never be a successful writer. This is first on the list because this is really the only thing anybody will ever need to be successful at anything, not just writing. Love what you do, not what will come of what you do, and nothing will ever stand in your way.

~2~ Support

Nobody - lawyer, doctor, hot dog vendor, writer - can do anything without the support of the people they love. Having problems? Go out for coffee and chat up your sister in law or your nephew; get away from the keyboard and socialize. Just knowing that you have somebody or a group of somebodies there to be your fire escape can be more than what you need to get back to your goals.

~3~ A Plan

Whether it be a forty eight step goal to get published by Bloomsbury or just a plot point-by-plot point structure for your as-of-yet unwritten draft, you need to have a plan. Pick out beforehand what your characters are wearing. Pick what paper you print your manuscript out on, and the envelope you send it in. Hell, micromanage and pick the colour of ink you use to write the address and find out exactly how much postage it will cost so you can put the exact amount on your envelope.

~4~ Spontenaeity

Yes, a contradiction. But a valid one, I promise. Plans are the basis of any good action, but spontaneous action creates the random perfection of all things. Change your writing style for the day. Send your manuscript - even if you're not too sure about it - off to a publisher and start a new project. (Hey, the worst that can happen is getting a letter saying it isn't what they're looking for at this time.) But if you don't take the plunge, you'll never be able to figure out if the water is hot or cold.

~5~ A Story

Without a story, there can be nothing. Whether it is an idea gathering dust in your mind or a fully-formed, ready-to-be-edited novel, you need that story. Once you have that story, you can pretty much do anything you want. Lock it away in a safe and never let it see the light of day; edit it, run with it, send it off to as many publishers as you can; shred it and use it as lining for a birdcage. But it all starts with that one all-important story. Once you have that, you have everything you could possibly need to make that story great.




I've found that without these five things, it's hard to do anything at all. I've never published anything (although I don't count my grade seven poetry column in the school newspaper as a real publishing) but I have a drawer filled with rejection letters; my first rejection letter is hanging on the wall directly across from my bed, where I do my bed writing, encased by a frame the girl I babysit helped me decorate.

It doesn't take much to become an author. You have to know that you'll be rejected more than you'll be accepted and you've got to understand that you can't please the world with every single word you write. But if you love what you do, have support from your loved ones, a solid plan of action, spontenaeity, and a story, you can make it work.




If you're into writing fantasy fiction, GLBTQ fantasy fiction, or anything involving werewolves, vampires, or paranormal/occult works, check out Samhain Publishing. They publish eBooks and occasionally foray into printed books. I have a friend (search Taryn Blackthorne on the site and you'll find her book) who was published with them and she enjoyed her publishing experience with them.

Knowing where to go for that first shot at publishing helps sometimes.

~Seriah~

 

[B e a r B o b]

The knowledge that you won't instantly get ideas
when you want them to come, and the ability to memorise and
jot them down when they do. Dedication is the main... skill, if I may,
to successful writing.
I know that J.K.Rowling might not be the greatest author
in the world, however, she found
herself writing on trains, and benches and other
places. ALWAYS CARRY A NOTE PAD!

Another tip is to go further than just one plot line and maybe
two or three sub-plots, be creative,
be create ties between them all; a lost reader is
a bad thing.

Finally, use your friends, they are the best critics, they won't be affraid to slam your work, due to the fact that
they know you! (:

 

[Writer Selbe]

Quote:

Finally, use your friends, they are the best critics, they won't be affraid to slam your work, due to the fact that
they know you! (:

Haha! That's so true!  

[Jareths Girl_24TTW]

Well it takes more skill than most people think to be a writer.

You know your a true writer if

-If you talk to yourself.
-If you talk to yourself about talking to yourself (i.e. "I wonder why I talk to myself so much?")
-If, when you talk to yourself, you sometimes speak as if talking to another person (i.e. "Okay, so have you ever noticed that the word ‘deliver’ could mean removing someone’s liver?’")
-If, after uttering a profound piece of wisdom like that above, you stare at the cookie in your hand in awe and say, "Wow, this is good stuff for sugar highs!"
-If you live off of sugar and caffeine.
-If people start to notice that you tend to check your e-mail every day for a week, then suddenly disappear off the face of the planet.
-If your e-mails tend to be pages long and incredibly random.
-If, when replying to someone else’s e-mail, you are sometimes so random that you fail to address the original message altogether.
-If you tend to collect the Bic Stics people leave lying around, kind of like picking pennies off the ground.
-If, no matter where you are in your room, you never have to so much as get up to reach a pen/pencil and paper.
-If people think you might have A.D.D.
-If you start constantly talking in third person, past tense.
-If you think about making lists like this, and start giggling for no "apparent" reason.
-If your friends don’t even bother to look funny at you anymore when you start giggling for no apparent reason.

I'm a writer  

[Crystalbow]

lilixe

Well it takes more skill than most people think to be a writer.

You know your a true writer if

-If you talk to yourself.
-If you talk to yourself about talking to yourself (i.e. "I wonder why I talk to myself so much?")
-If, when you talk to yourself, you sometimes speak as if talking to another person (i.e. "Okay, so have you ever noticed that the word ‘deliver’ could mean removing someone’s liver?’")
-If, after uttering a profound piece of wisdom like that above, you stare at the cookie in your hand in awe and say, "Wow, this is good stuff for sugar highs!"
-If you live off of sugar and caffeine.
-If people start to notice that you tend to check your e-mail every day for a week, then suddenly disappear off the face of the planet.
-If your e-mails tend to be pages long and incredibly random.
-If, when replying to someone else’s e-mail, you are sometimes so random that you fail to address the original message altogether.
-If you tend to collect the Bic Stics people leave lying around, kind of like picking pennies off the ground.
-If, no matter where you are in your room, you never have to so much as get up to reach a pen/pencil and paper.
-If people think you might have A.D.D.
-If you start constantly talking in third person, past tense.
-If you think about making lists like this, and start giggling for no "apparent" reason.
-If your friends don’t even bother to look funny at you anymore when you start giggling for no apparent reason.

I'm a writer

Oh wow, I never quite realized how much I act like that! blaugh I'll be talking with my friends, and all of a sudden I just start talking to myself! Some of my friends don't quite learn very quick and look at me funny while I just start laughing in the middle of school, which makes it even worse.