Advice For Aspiring Writers

Interviews with writers, at least the interviews I’ve seen, always tend to ask this question: What advice do you have for aspiring writers?

Now, to me, it’s not the question that’s the problem. It’s the answers. I wish I had a loonie (that’s a dollar for all of you who don’t live in Canada), for every time I heard this answer: Write and read.

Look, I don’t mean to go into full on snarky mode here, but it’s my nature. When an interviewer asks a writer what advice they have for anyone who wants to get into their profession the answer is almost always to write and read. Well, golly gee, when I set out to become a writer, I had no idea you might have to actually write stuff! Are veterinarians going to tell me that you should work with pets? Are doctors going to tell me I have to help heal people? The writing and reading answer is so utterly obvious to me and yet, writer after writer after writer comes up with this answer as if it’s a revelation. If a person wants to be a writer, they’re going to write and they’re going to read.

Now, my book isn’t finished as of writing this blog, but since it is nearing completion, I’ve started to think about my answer to this question. I don’t want to be obvious. I don’t want to give the same old advice that is carted out over and over again. If an interviewer asks me “Melanie, what advice would you give to an aspiring writer?” I’m not going to tell them to write and read. I want to give them specifics.

So with that being said, here is my advice to aspiring writers

Number one, if you want to be a writer you need to start living. By that I don’t mean, living as all of you who are reading this are doing. I don’t mean living as in breathing, walking, talking, and going to work or school. When I say that you have to start living, what I believe most people mean when they say to start living, is to go outside of your comfort zone. Do things that scare you. Eat foods you wouldn’t normally eat. Talk to people you wouldn’t normally talk to. What this is going to do is open up avenues in your imagination and help you to create more dynamic and varied characters in your stories. A person who sits at their computer screen all day is not going to do much actual living. Think of your imagination as a stomach that, like our own stomach, has to be fed. Only, your imagination is far more gluttonous. Unlike our own stomachs, it can never be truly full. It always craves new experiences. So feed your imagination whenever you can. Then, when you sit down to write, you will find that, instead of searching for ideas, you will be mining through dozens of potential ideas. And that, my aspiring writers, is not just going to help create a story but it’s also going to help you write good stories that everyone will want to read.

Lesson number two is to travel. This one may be more specific to people who want to go down the fantasy or science fiction route but it can also be helpful to people who want to write a simple comedy or romantic novel. Travelling is going to inspire your imagination to create amazing worlds that readers may never have seen before especially if you’re travelling to parts of the world that has a completely different way of living then your own corner of the globe. Now, if I’m being honest, I’m one of the lucky ones. I have had the opportunity to travel to some amazing places. I haven’t gone everywhere but I’ve seen more in my 23 years than many people ever will. I’m one of the fortunate ones. I know that many people will never get the opportunity to travel even if they have a strong desire to travel. Maybe you are reading this right now and thinking that you won’t ever get to travel much further than your home turf. That’s fine. When I say travel, I don’t mean that you have to necessarily go backpacking through Europe or go traipsing through a jungle. You don’t have to stray far from your house to be considered a traveller. With the advent of the Internet, sometimes you don’t even have to leave your own computer. You can just look at images of various locales online. Of course, as many people will tell you, there is a distinct difference between looking at a picture of a place far away from your home and actually seeing the place in person but sometimes your imagination doesn’t need to experience a location to be able to log it away and use it later as the basis for a fantastic environment. So maybe you can’t travel far, but that doesn’t mean you can’t travel at all. Go for a walk around your block or drive to the small town just outside your own home. It might not be a terribly exciting adventure but it’s going to feed your imagination all the same. And feeding your imagination is very important, as I have mentioned in lesson one.

Lesson three: Don’t be a writer to just to be famous. I think you could apply this lesson to any person who wants to go into any creative career, whether they want to be a writer or a singer or an actor. Don’t do it to be the next, insert name of successful writer, singer or actor ever. Do it because you love to write. Do it because your very soul pulls you to do it. From an outsider’s perspective, a writer’s life might seem like the easiest job in the world. After all, we writers don’t have to work in an office building or deal with coworkers. We don’t even have to get dressed up to be able to do our jobs. From the outside, it seems ideal. But to be a writer is to pursue a career and a career means work. If you go into the field of creative writing and you’re just doing it to be famous, writing is going to feel like a job. A writer who loves what they do might get frustrated on a daily basis but ultimately the frustration will be worth it because they love doing their job. Oh, and to address the other part of lesson three. If you want to be a writer, don’t try to be your favourite author. Your favourite author became famous because they did something that the world had never seen before not because they wrote just like the last famous writer. Don’t be the next anything. Be the first you.

  

The fourth and final lesson I’m going to give is to write as much and as often as you can.

I know what you’re going to say. I’m being a hypocrite. I went on and on about how annoyed I was by the writing and reading answer and now I’m telling you to write. Fine. You caught me. But I don’t think this lesson is entirely hypocritical because you see, when I say write, I don’t mean that to be a writer you just have to put your hands to the keyboard and type or simply press your pen or pencil to a page. People often talk about a writer’s voice, referring to the distinct way they present the words of the story on the page. It’s what separates one writer from the next. A writer with a distinct voice can be identified by their fans even if their name isn’t on page one. But these writers didn’t just come up with their distinct voices right away. They needed to write constantly. They had to discover their voice. And that’s what an aspiring writer needs to do. A good writer, a successful writer combines imagination with an interesting storytelling style. Once you have your voice, you’re well on your way.

So that’s my answer to the question. Now, obviously, if I ever get an interview, I’m going to have to pare down my answers to their simple components but since this is a blog, I figure I can get away with writing a mini essay. I hope my advice was helpful.

See you in my next blog.