Actionable Tips New Writers Like You Can Take Today!

Where do you start as a writer? How does one “make it” as an author? Good questions with no easy answer. I wondered the same as I got started on my authorial journey. Having loved literature and writing for a long time, I began to dabble with this and that. Eventually, enough people encouraged me, enjoying what I wrote, which built my confidence to the point that I thought I could take on writing my own novel. Getting By is the outcome, but the process was a challenge.

Getting Started as a Writer

Honestly, it may seem reductive, but your best chance at becoming a published author is just to start writing. There really isn’t a magic formula or any program you can take that will guarantee success if you’re not already writing.

As with any creative craft, it’s all about practice! If you want to start your career, I highly recommend you start writing just for the sake of writing and try not to be too precious about what you create.

Get out of your head that you need to write your first great novel the first time you apply pen to page (or fingers to keys these days). Otherwise, you’ll flounder with how overwhelming a task you’ve set for yourself.

Write short stories no one will ever read (or, if anyone, a trusted few), pen some poetry, outline a script – whatever sort of writing you want to do, start small with no goal for financial success in mind. From there, your natural talents will grow, and you may begin to discover themes, characters, and stories you WILL want to take further at some point.

Consume the Medium

Whether it’s a novel, video game, film, or poetry, if you’re going to write it, you need to watch or read it! Often, as creatives, we understandably worry about plagiarism and originality, so we avoid consuming the media we enjoy. But in doing so, we do ourselves a great disservice.

• Firstly, watching the medium and genres we’re interested in inspires us to pursue our work.
• Secondly, it helps you keep up with the zeitgeist, so you don’t write the 18th zombie movie of the summer or another young adult fiction novel about the gods of Olympus centered around a boy.
• Thirdly, we can take those two above thoughts and roll them into something else – adopting an old idea and making it new and yours: Just because it’s been done before doesn’t mean you can’t do it again and possibly better!

We must keep abreast of what is going on in the medium we choose to write. Then we’re not left behind and out of touch with what could attract an audience and sell. Plus, when your profession is to write, some of our books, streaming services, and game purchases can be written off for “research” come tax season.

Develop Strategy

Now, while I did say there aren’t any secret recipes to “get rich quick” as a writer, that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t study the craft.

From publishing a novel to screenwriting, taking a course can bolster your writing ability. Because, for so long, writing pays little, so you want to manage your time as best you can. And thankfully, most of the courses, from school to online, that I’ve encountered all reinforce time management.

You can learn many tricks like creating quick outlines, drumming up creative ideas, making a schedule, and other shorthand techniques that will help you write more efficiently. Like my course for self-publishing, for example, I wish I knew so much of what I learned BEFORE spending all the time I did getting my novel off the ground by myself.

But if you want to publish your young adult novel, you can learn how to get it started and on a shelf in no time by learning from the mistakes and research I’ve already invested time into for you. Whatever you wish to write, don’t discount the value of investing in your skills to strategize your approach because it will save you tons of time and money in the long run!

Connect with Others

Surround yourself with a community of other writers. Your peers can provide valuable feedback, helping you improve your writing. They can share great deals on courses they find. Plus, every once in a while, someone else could “make it” on their journey and reach down a helping hand to pull others up.

Honestly, you never know who will go where and be able to help (and that person could even be you!) Plus, I find having a group to share your writing with can build accountability, keeping you coming back to that manuscript instead of leaving it stagnant.

When I was writing Getting By, I nearly quit part way through. If it hadn’t been for the support of others, I might not be where I am today in my authorial career. So take every chance you can to build your writing community on sites like goodreads.com, Facebook or Pinterest groups, or even in-person meetups.

As I said, when you get started, there’s no clear direction to becoming a successful writer. The most important thing is, though, that you get started. You’ll never sell your story if you don’t write it! So get started, put some time into research, develop new skills through courses, and find a community that will nurture your craft and confidence.

If you need some more help, please don’t hesitate to check out the resources I offer on my site. We can also connect on social media, where I’m building my own community, and feel free to email me at jsims@jairesims.com.