I know this is early and still need to finish the rest of my story, but I have genuine question.
Is it harder to make it as a published author when you lack certain skills? I mean I am writing as much as I can and I still feel like I can do better, much better. I never took classes for writing (I lied I took one creative writing class in college, but things happened that I deeply regret), I never taken a job related to writing, and I have so many issues.
I truly want to become an author so reading and writing as much I can is a must, but I suppose I worry a tad bit.
What to do?
this is a bit of a loaded question. Like, if you don’t have, for example, skills in editing or grammar (and by that I mean basic grammar) then yeah, you’re likely never to get published because your manuscript needs a certain level of readability for agents or publishers.
But if you’re talking like, “I havent done a degree or class in writing” then absolutely not, you don’t need those “skills”
Genuinely, speaking from my heart, I have a book coming out in July (rough date they still havent given me a release date more than the month sigh) and I havent read it since I submitted it (mainly because I’m waiting to receive the changes and want to read it with a fresh head) but when I got the offer, I still feel like I could’ve done more with the book, much better with the plot and characters. But I got a published book, so I must’ve done something right.
I genuinely believe even people who are best sellers probably feel this. I feel this all the time even when I’ve had a reader praise the book till the ends of the earth, I will still hate it. I will still feel I could do more.
. This is not saying you can’t, I’m just saying I think we will always feel like this, even if a book gets on the shelf XD
I put this above, but you really don’t need all of this. I have a degree in creative writing, and while I feel it helped me in my craft, to become a published author, all you need is a completed book that makes sense and the right agent or publisher. That manuscript needs to be edited, obviously, etc etc, but you don’t need to take classes or a job or a degree. Writing is an art, you can’t really be taught talent. If you see what I’m going for.
My advice is genuinely to keep writing. the more you write, the more practice you gain, and the better you get. these days I find myself getting better with each chapter, with each book, with each character I write. the book thats getting published? I did 3 small drafts, 3-4 small edits in-between and it got better each time. The first draft was awful, I didnt know what the difference was between action and dialogue tags (lmao says the woman with a writing degree, they didnt teach me that!) and my adverbs were littered everywhere.
Polished writing comes with practice.
Some of my lecturers have only just got publishing deals in their 60s and 70s.
Anyway, long winded way of saying just keep writing, and deliver a gripping book!
That feeling doesn’t go away for those who refuse to keep working on things that could be better.
I get to the point of done when it’s “good enough for government work”. Part of it is because I’m not striving to make something of this, but the other side is that if it’s bad, polishing won’t make it epic, and if the premise is epic, some failure will be tolerated. Do your best, move on. There’s other books to write.
But when it comes to books of passion (and I mean the writer’s) it’s got a bit of “I want to love this sentence more” to it. Anything that doesn’t fit the passion of the rest will drive you insane. Personally, I don’t see how that will make a better book for the masses, but I get it.
Thank you so much. I am truly happy that you gave me some helpful feedback.
My grammar is fine, it is just that editing is something I struggle with because I can’t make sense of it.
I mean I can read a book to help me how to edit my book all by myself.
I truly feel ready write some more. Thanks for this again.
thats how I’ve felt with a couple of books now. I think a couple of my books are just ones that were just “stepping stones” and learning posts. Love the plots, characters, just don’t want to work on them anymore. I might do in the future, but they’re not passion projects for me anymore.
Whereas the one I’m editing now, and a few that I still need to, or have just done, are real passions. I get excited to go back there, have endless notes to keep going over. There’s so much I want to do.
Even now, I can hear my brain going: “even though this book is published” (about my one thats publishing) “I would still do this” or make a sequel or something. I loved writing it, and I can tell when I reread stuff.
Ugh trust me, I feel the same. I can’t afford to get a professional editor, so I edit myself, and use comments from book clubs on Wattpad. Thats how I’ve taught myself. I still don’t pick everything up, but I’m confident in the work enough that a few typos are things publisher’s don’t mind, and probably expect. I can imagine I had a few when the publisher did mine XD In fact I sit there worrying what he must think of me XD
No worries, you’ve got this! When your inspiration strikes, you’ll get that passion and just keep going!
This part doesn’t really fade for me when I get “good enough” on some of them. Like To Make a Kinder Children’s Tale, I’ve effectively stewed on that for about 3 years before “publishing” it to Wattpad. I don’t think I’ve got the tolerance for another edit on it, it’s a pleasent read as it is, and I do want to go through the mechanics of entering for a Wattys with it, but the idea of getting a mentor who is going to push me to change more about it isn’t helping me on this. Lol
That and I’m dragging butt on finishing things, again.
Yeah. The whole editing process makes me want to scream and I haven’t actually gotten to that point yet, but I should have tried to experience it with my short story that I finished a while ago. That desperately needs editing.
Yet, when I finish this anthology and make it into a novel format, that shit is going to need a CRAP ton of edits and revisions possibly.
I wish I could afford an editor or something. But I think doing it myself would be beneficial.
Ugh I wish I can tell them that without being rude or snappy. They’re a nice person but ugh, I’m too full to take on that, if you know what I mean. Or I have too much on my plate.
Maybe I can link them to Wacky. They have plenty of questions and me not having experience in genre besides sci-fi, contemporary and adventure can seriously cause some misinformation.
Still can’t write anything. Struggling to get back into a story I left off, before my IP filtering saga. It’s mentally a challenge to begin. I start then stop. I can’t get past the stop.
I’ve been making lots of progress and am slowly getting closer to finishing the chapter. I’ve got around 8.7k words, so I’ve got around 3.5-4.5k words before I’m finally done with the chapter. While I enjoy my story, being stuck on the same chapter for around two months has made me pretty sick of writing it, and I will be so happy to finally move onto the next stage of my novel. At this pace, I should finish it by the end of next week, but with my physics finals coming up, I’ll probably be putting writing to the side to nail down the final physics concepts that I’m struggling to understand.
