How to be an author. Now there's a topic that's nowhere near easy to tackle. Just as easily ask, "How do I become a mixed martial artist?" But people do ask me this question, and it's usually people who have always thought about it, considering at least a memoir of their life, and they want to know how to go about it.
So, how do you become an author? On the surface the answer seems simple. And it is. Start writing, take writing classes, write no less than about 500 words a day if you want to make any kind of dent, read through it a few times to edit it, and then submit it for publishing while trying to garner support on your own social media platforms. Those are the basic steps.
But the game has changed recently. So, here in this entry, I'm going to talk to the aspiring authors, and hopefully even educate those of us who've been hammering away at it for a while. Here is an outline of what you're going to have to accomplish in order to get anywhere with publication, whether it's self-publishing or otherwise. This is meant for those who really haven't a clue as to how to begin being a writer, a very basic guide. It will go all the way from a book's inception to the submission and publication process:
STEP 1 - Have Something to Write About
I'm assuming, since you've gotten this far, you've probably already got this covered, but you'd be amazed how many people want to write a book but haven't the foggiest idea what they want to write about, so we'll start here.
If you are completely blank on this subject but still feel you really, really must write something, here's what you do. First, determine what it is you want your story to inspire. Hope? Horror? Romance? Whatever it is, fix that in your head first and then select the genre. Then, start reading all of the Big Names in that genre to see how they do it. Learn the language of romance if your goal is to write a love story, learn the flow of horror if you're trying to attempt a ghastly shocker of a novel.
Now, begin visualizing what kind of characters and what kind of story you need to have in place in order to get that feeling across. If it's suspense, pay attention to what scares you most, and what scares your friends, and then analyze it (every author has to be a kind of psychologist, even if you're just an "armchair psychologist", if you're going to write believable characters). You don't have to write an outline if you don't want to, but you do have to have a general direction fixed. Think of it as a road trip: you can have as much fun as you want on the journey (the actual writing portion), but you definitely need to have a destination and a map in hand or else you're just wandering and bound to get lost.
So, get a handle on what it is you want to write about, and proceed to Step 2.
STEP 2 - Acquire the Grammatical Skills Necessary to Write
Some people consider this to be Step 1, but not me. To me, I think, "Why bother learning how to spell and gain an extensive vocabulary if you have nothing to say?" So, having something to write about certainly gives you motivation. Let's be honest, what motivation do you have for learning advanced physics if you're not going to apply it to putting a man on the moon or building a bridge? First, you have to decide that you want to be on the moon, and then you garner the skills necessary to make it happen.
To me, inspiration comes first, then comes the yearning to acquire the skills. You have to yearn for competition in order to be a professional fighter, and you have to love golf to endure the long, sometimes tedious lessons. So make sure your heart is in this, or else you won't be able to stay awake in any writing classes you take.
You don't have to go to a big university to become a writer (I didn't), but if you don't, then you're going to have to join online groups, perhaps take writing courses from home, so that you can subject your work to scrutiny. You're going to suck at first. You're going to suck really, really bad. But remember the first guitar lesson you took, or your first martial arts class. Were you awesome after your first six months? Nope. You had to work at it, copy the movements of others, and slowly, over years (yes, years, that's why if you're going to start you'd better start sooner rather than later), you develop a style all your own.
You need to have a grasp of the English language. For instance, you need to know the difference between "there," "their," and "they're" (the first refers to a location or a point in action, the second denotes ownership, and the third is a conjuction of "they" and "are"). If you don't know the difference between these and others ("your" and "you're", for instance), and if you keep using the same words to describe actions because of a limited vocabulary, you won't be taken very seriously by publishers, agents, or readers.
STEP 3 - Start Writing...a Lot...Whenever You Can...as Much as Possible
Do you know how you get to Carnegie Hall? Practice. Lots and lots of practice. You can't just "phone in" an entire novel, even if it's just a 200-page novella, and expect to get published. You have to write all the time and constantly subject your work to the criticisms of others.
I covered this a bit in my last article "Writing Tips for Pros and Newbies," so I'll try to be brief here and you can refer to that article for more tips. The long and short of it is you need boundaries of space, and boundaries of time. You need a place where you can go and "tune out" and start writing up a storm. I recommend no less than 30 minutes a day of uninterrupted writing, but I would say that around 2 - 4 hours is best.
If you just said "Wait, two to four hours?! Every day? Is he insane?!", then exit this article immediately and read any of my other fine entries about zombies and how they work, and what's to like about Doctor Who (those are my most popular ones). Writing takes practice, and 10 minutes a day gets almost nothing done.
I'm a self-defense instructor, and people often come into my school and ask, "How long does it take to get a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu?" When we tell them the better part of a decade, their eyes sometimes widen and they say, "Man, I was thinking, like, a year, two years tops! Well, what about Filipino kali? How long does it take to get a black belt in that?" When we give the same answer, they either complain or leave confused and upset. Now, how many fights do you think these people are going to win in the street, and how much skill are they ever going to have, if they keep hopping around from school to school until they get the answer they're looking for?
Exactly. Get your butt in gear and train a skill. Stop talking about it, stop whining about how long it's taking, and just do it. Or, be like everybody else, and forever talk about the idea you've got in your head about this one book that would be so awesome, you just never started it.
STEP 4 - Begin Submitting Your Works
*Sigh* All right, folks, if you thought the first steps I put up sounded like a nightmare, then you do not have the testicular or ovarian fortitude to man/woman up and do this part. The writing is the FUN part, but the submission process is the boring, slogging, hopeless, helpless portion of being an author that will test your willpower constantly.
Very briefly, this is how submission with the publishing industry USED to work: you would write a novel or short story, shop it around to either publishers or agents (agents represent you to publishers, kind of like negotiators, and they get a cut of what you make), and you would wait for a response. Typically, you would write what's called a "query letter" that was no more than 3 - 4 paragraphs introducing yourself, your credentials (if you had any), and a very brief synopsis of your story. If they liked it (they usually didn't), they asked for a 1-3 page synopsis, and if they liked that (they usually didn't), they asked for the first 50 pages or first three chapters.
If all went well, they asked for the full manuscript and you got published and paid! (Yipee!)
Then came the Internet (Boooooo-hissssss). Yes, that ultimate of double-edged swords. It brought us so many joys, didn't it? Online gaming, Wikipedia, YouTube and Rickrolling. Along with the Internet came social media, and now it's becoming more and more common to find that publishers and agents don't even want to talk to you unless you are already on numerous social media platforms (the Big Three are Facebook, Twitter, and some kind of website or at least a blog of your own). Only after you show that you have a decent following that you've built on your own will they now ask you to submit your work along the lines of the previous steps (query letter, synopsis, et cetera).
Social media has become a prerequisite now. There's no avoiding it (I certainly tried for a while), you're going to have to promote yourself before you even start submitting your book, first through friends and fans of indie authors, then allowing the word-of-mouth to spread, anticipation to grow for your debut novel (or second or third), and then release it. And then repeat this process over and over and over and over again.
OR, you could self-publish. In case you didn't know it, Amazon and others allow you publish your own work FOR FREE online. That's right. You now no longer have to wait for a publisher to publish you. You can publish just about anything you want...but beware. Here is another double-edged sword the Internet gave us. If you publish it without going through an editor, you might just have a stinker on your hands and you'll have no way of knowing it. Still, this process can start gaining some attention for you and your future works.
STEP 5 - Learn to Love It, and Treat It Like a Small Business
If all of this sounds like too much of a headache, don't worry, there's still time to back out and become a rodeo clown, or porn star, or video game reviewer. But, be warned, all of those professions are just as grueling, and require just as much work to eventually get to...not even the top, just to a comfortable living. To get to "The Top" takes a dash of luck (some video of yours going viral, a celebrity reading your book at random and raving about it, etc.), but patience will help you earn a steady living some day.
Like a small business, you need to start attending lectures by writers, agents and publishers. You need to join a group of some kind, like maybe the Georgia Writers Association, and swap advice. You need to start reading lots and lots of articles on changing trends of social media, tips for writing and editing, tips for attracting more traffic to your blog, and all the while...KEEP WRITING! This is the most important part: do it because you love it, not because you want to get paid.
If you treat it like your own personal small business, I can promise you that you will love it even more, that you will find that you have more to say, and that you will help others along the way. It can be a rewarding experience if you let it be. Your circle of friends will probably change, you'll have writers and other artists swapping stories of hardships and victories, tips on how to get your name out there, and over time you become a different person. Which brings us to...
STEP 6 - Become a Different Person
Allow yourself to be changed, the way you must allow yourself to be changed if you're training in martial arts, music lessons, or stand-up comedy. If you're going to do this, you need to accept that you're going to change. If change frightens you...again, I differ you to my article "Zombie Autopsy: How do Zombies Work, Exactly?", which is an entertaining read and will in no way require you to do all the work I've listed above.
(And even if you do still want to be a writer, you should read it anyway, because zombies rule!)
Follow me on Twitter and Facebook: Twitter account ChadHuskinsAuthor
Visit my website: www.forestofideas.com
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