Back up plan implies failure. You can't fail if you never give up! I think it's important to be careful about the way we word things, even to ourselves. Mindset is EVERYTHING. The Law of Attraction is a real phenomenon. Semantics are important. I do think that if you want to be a career writer it might be a good idea to have another platform to build from. For me, I want to study yoga and become an instructor, and from there go further into exploring the healing arts (herbs, energy work, etc). I'd love to write self help books one day and I know if I truly want to do that, I need some sort of education to speak from. So I think that rather than looking at it like "making millions of dollars off writing" vs "complete and total failure and go to plan b" one should expand themselves in all directions, following all of their interests and passions. All forms of education will help your writing and help YOU find the hook that makes you a name for yourself. The great thing about writing is you can write about anything and many people of many different professions and fields of study are also writers.
It's important that you don't give up, of course, but you still have to put bread on the table - and this is probably more an issue for those who have families to feed. I think in the Western world, here, thouguh, it's not terribly difficult to write and have a normal job at the same time. In fact, having a job could even help you a bit, to keep you in touch with the outside world while at home you write great things. Don't give up - but don't go charging blindly into the enemy horde when it's not the right time yet, either.
True. People have different standards for living. I'm practically homeless right now but I work on my writing all day instead of going out and getting some ****ty job. I am used to living out of a backpack and bumming around. Obviously things would be quite different if I had a child to support and my attitude about writing vs "normal" work would be different.
I just read an (old) interview with Bret Easton Ellis (you can tell I like him, huh? ) and he talks a bit about the financial aspect of writing. After publishing his first novel while he was at college, it kinda came out of nowhere and became this big thing that everyone read (back in the 80s great literary fiction topped best-seller lists...now its Twilight...says something about the way our culture is going...) and he made a lot of money off of it and moved to New York and lived really well....and then after a year you start to realise that there's no money left and you need to start planning....he filled in the financial gaps between novels mostly with magazine articles and screenwriting jobs, which gave him enough money to get by comfortably enough in the years between novels. He is among the most successful "literary" authors working today, and even he struggles at times with money...so while its definitely viable, I think its a notion that's very easy to romanticise, and that's where you might get into trouble. Like, its easy to say oh yeah I'm gonna publish this novel and then I'm gonna live on the royalties while I write my next one, but really, getting published (as hugely difficult as that is in itself) is only a small part of the life of a writer - you then have to sell it, and find other writing gigs in between in case it doesn't sell....believing in yourself is great, but its no substitute for sound planning.
Haha well that's exactly what I was saying in my last post. I don't have a mortgage. I don't have anything. Most people wouldn't want to live my lifestyle. All in the name of passion!
QFT Also, look at Rick Riordan (the Olympian series). Being a middle school teacher (plus a father) probably helped him be able to write for a middle-school audience. John Grisham, a long-time lawyer, knew that world and so could write about it in his novels. Or Ann Rule, who worked for a while on a suicide hotline (w/Ted Bundy, the serial killer!). So I think everything you do can give you experience and understanding that will only enhance your writing. Plus what Wreybies said.
So if I write about super-humans (with hot girl-friends) fighting aliens does that mean I've had a very interesting life?
I don't have anything I would consider publishing at the moment but I was just curious... If you knew a famous author that did a different genre then you would it still help at all?
One person's "living" is another person's poverty. If you want to "write for a living", then DO it! Your lifestyle may suffer until you make enough money to meet your goals, but consider the alternative -- spending the next 32 years making money in a job you loathe. I speak from experience. No regrets, though. I had a wife and kids that I refused to drag through writer's poverty. Now, it's my turn to chase the dream.
A literary agent in the UK at AP Watt Literary Agency has a bunch of videos posted where he answers various questions about getting published, about the future of the industry, etc. It's interesting stuff that you guys might want to hear. Here's the website (I've not made it a direct link): videojug.com/user/UKEX0094
Ah, you're welcome. I was amazed how so many of the questions we ask here in WF were answered by this literary agent. The only thing that didn't sound right to me was about creative writing schools. He seemed to say that majoring in creative writing would potentially give you an "in" to the industry. If that were true, there'd be a lot more people w/that major. But everything else he said seemed to be pretty much along the lines of what the more senior folks here have been saying.
I also disagreed with that. I disagree about it taking years of work before someone becomes an "overnight success". Look at Twilight. I know he is referring to the generals though. Also dang does that guy mumble, I had to turn my volume up full blast to be able to hear him.. and then the interviewer questions were screaming loud lol.
Well, at my university, the creative writing graduates (not undergrads) get a chance to have their work published in any of the few local magazines. In a sense, it sort of is an "in" to the industry. But I'm not sure that all colleges have such a feature for their creative writing students.
I think the guy just meant it as a way to improve writing skills. Definitely not the only way though. I have never taken a class and my writing has dramatically improved throughout the years. Practice makes perfect, whatever gets you practicing!
Ya, I agree. And that guy really needs to learn to speak louder. I had to continuously turn up or turn down the volume depending on who was talking.
With writing workshops and courses, it all depends on who the teacher is. I plan on doing a workshop paper at uni next year studying under Witi Ihimaera (who wrote Whale Rider and is probably NZ's most successful contemporary writer)...but if the teacher wasn't someone who really knew what they were talking about, I wouldn't be bothering. As for getting an "in" to the industry, I guess maybe the same thing applies - if your teacher is well respected, than telling agents that you studied under them might get you a little extra interest, but I doubt that it would be anything too significant.
Wow, thats a pretty cool opportunity. Enjoy. I'm just glad schooling isn't a necessity for publishing the same way it would be for say.. becoming a doctor. Because if that were the case a lot of us (me) would be out of luck. I haven't ever been able to afford college classes.
I write because it gives my life meaning, purpose, and to leave behind something in this world greater than a grave.
