6 Tips for Career Writers

6 Tips for Career Writers

Anybody Can Write a Novel

Chapter 9 “Types of Writers” – Section 2 “Career Writers”

With Links to Supplementary Material

In the last article on Types of Writers, we discussed the different types of writers, or perhaps the different attitudes towards writing. The first of these is the Career Writer, someone who seeks to make a career out of writing stories—usually characterized by higher than average writing skills, a knowledge of their field, but limited experience in other fields and a temptation to focus on publishing instead of taking the time to craft their story.

Tip 1: Create a schedule of writing, reading, networking, and editing.

The first major difficulty for a writer focused on the goal of publication is balance. With the difficulty of finances, time, and a deep love for the work you have created, you must assure that you do the other things that are necessary for literary success. Make a schedule to make sure that you dedicate time for reading—both fiction and technical manuscripts on writing, networking, and editing your own and the works of others.

Tip 2: Write a second book before you publish the first.

It's immensely difficult, when you are so focused on your first written work, to be able to focus on anything other than putting that first book into the hands of an audience—in seeing fruition for all your hard work on a piece that is so personal and special to you. The only way to edit this first work is to gain emotional distance from it so that you can edit with precision. And the best way to gain this distance is to work on an unrelated novel (NOT A SEQUEL). Doing this will cause you to really stop thinking about your first work for a while, and to invest your emotions into something new for a necessary amount of time.

Tip 3: Take time to edit other people's manuscripts and to teach your craft.

Even if you do not yet have a Writing Partner to return your critiques, you need to learn to take a rough draft, identify the problems within it, fix the problems, and discuss the problems and the solutions so that you can gain a full comprehension of the editing process. And you can never do that with your own work until you can do it for somebody else's work. So take the time to give detailed manuscript and plot critiques and to teach others whenever possible.

Tip 4: Keep the true end-goal in mind.

Even for a career writer, the true goal is not publication. The true goal is to publish something of quality—something that will be loved by readers. Sometimes, those goals become confused and interwoven, especially when the process of creating a story of quality takes so very long. Remember your true goal, and do not let that story into the world as a finished product until brutal test-readers tell you that it is absolutely ready.

Tip 5: Seriously consider whether you want to publish traditionally or self-publish.

Traditional publishing is difficult and has many risks and flaws. Self-publishing is difficult and has many risks and flaws. We'll talk about both topics at length in future articles, but you should discard neither option nor buy into the idea that one is superior then the other. Both come with their own difficulties, and you should seek out intelligent opinions that are in favor of both methods. And regardless of which route you choose, know that your work must meet the same standard of quality, both to get your foot in the door and to create a good first impression with readers. Apart from the few lottery-chance exceptions, there are no shortcuts to literary success, only genuine work, learning, and effort.

Tip 6: Take time to experience the world.

If you want a broader look at life in your writing, you need to experience life. Consider taking a calculated and scheduled amount of time to purposefully gain life experiences, even if it is just one day a week or a month. Travel, work a part-time job, volunteer in humanitarian efforts, take a daily walk in different neighborhoods, do whatever you can in what limited ability you have. And I encourage you to do it alone, without friends, so that you have a chance to really think about the world, and people, and ideas, and all the things you see and experience. And I also challenge you to consider ideas that clash with your personal ideas and beliefs, and force you to ask hard questions that will empower your writing. If it seems like too much time away from your writing, remember that this is all a calculated learning experience, meant specifically to better your story.

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