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blog by RICK WALTON listed in categories: Writer's Life

I’ve worked with a lot of beginning writers. I’ve been a beginning writer. We all make mistakes early on. (Hey, we also make mistakes later on, but that’s another column.) You’ll go from beginning writer to successful writer much faster if you try to avoid these mistakes…

Mistake #1 – thinking you can write something and get it published without understanding the market, without reading extensively the kinds of things you want to write, without studying the publishers, without learning your craft. That, I think, is why marketing classes are so popular at conferences. A lot of writers want the secret formula for getting published, and don’t want to be told that it’s mostly just a lot of hard work. (Complicating this problem is the fact that occasionally someone does stumble into a bestselling work without knowing what they are doing. This is called “a fluke”. It’s not a model for conducting your own writing career.”

Mistake #2 – thinking that message is more important than story. Writers who set out to preach usually end up writing weak stories no one wants to read. Writers who set out to tell a strong story end up having powerful messages intentionally or unintentionally come through. I think of the books I’ve written that have messages – Bertie, Mrs. McMurphy’s Pumpkin, others – and in each case I didn’t even recognize that there was a message until long after the stories were written. I was just trying to tell a good story.

Mistake #3 – not necessarily a mistake, but a reason for lack of writing success – impatience. A lot of good writers give up too soon. It takes a lot of writing, and lot of work to become a good, publishable writer. It usually takes years. A lot of writers don’t want to work that long at it, so they give up. I know a lot of writers I just want to kick and say, “You’ve got talent! You’re breaking in! If you just pushed a little and kept at it, you’d make it.”

Mistake #4 – salivating after trends. Writing trends, like stock market trends, can work for those on the inside, who can get in while the trend is still young and growing. Beginning writers, though, usually aren’t on the inside. They should ignore trends, and write what they love and what they do well. Then they have a better chance at success, and even if they don’t sell, at least they’ll enjoy the writing.

Mistake #5 – wanting to be a writer more than wanting to write. A lot of writers want to be able to say they have a book published, want the critical acclaim, the attention, the parties (such fantasies!), want to be known as a writer. But they don’t actually enjoy the work. Oddly enough, a lot of successful writers I’ve met feel uncomfortable with all of the trappings. But they’re successful because they love the writing, not the glory.

Posted in March, 2008