Ditch job, become an author!?

[Pigsmummy]

I haven't voiced this in RL, I would love to ditch my well paid job and write some gritty fiction. I read a lot, hundreds of books of different genres, I also really enjoy theatre. I have the outline story of about three books in my head currently and in my day to day life find situations that I would love to write about.

Where do I start? Do I type up my outline and try to enter competitions? Do I write chapters then send them to a publisher? (I work in sales so have developed a thick skin regards rejection). How much might a publishing deal be worth? (kicking myself that I didn't get this nailed before ebooks came along).

I have wanted to write for a long time (most of my adult life) but suppressed the desire, i have a good job, been in this position for 6 years, my colleagues would be astounded by my lack of motivation and enjoyment of my job as i hide it well, I often sit through high level meetings wishing the time away so I can get back to my Kindle.

Is this madness? Has anyone done this?

I am 39, married with one DC btw

The creative writing industry is just that, an industry.

That's not to say that some of the people in it cannot pass on some good tips/information etc.

As I say, I've been asked to give a series of lectures on an MA in CW and I'm certainly not doing it because I need the cash...the amount they're offering me is paltry.

But I do think (hope) I'll be able to pass on some of my views and maybe help some students on their way...

Oh, there are some people who are helped by courses - those who have something interesting to say and a knack for storytelling but need a bit of advice on structure, for example. But TBH a lot of the people who go on them are never going to be any good. (I used to run a writers' organisation and we assessed and advised on manuscripts... I'll say no more.) I find it just a little bit... iffy, somehow (though NOTHING like as iffy as the vanity press industry, the only industry whose destruction by the Internet I welcomed) that there are companies who will take people's money in the knowledge that the buyers won't get the result they want (recognition as a writer).
Not everyone who aspires to be a writer has the ability to be one, just as not everyone who wants to be an actor, a singer, a golfer, a photographer or a surgeon actually has the ability to become a good one. Human beings have a range of talents, but most people have only one thing that they can or could do really well. Yet writing is the one 'talent' that nearly everyone thinks they have, for some reason.

I do that sort of MS assessment. I don't feel it's iffy. But it sometimes is a bit sad when there is a huge gap between what people think they're doing and what they really are doing. And you have to break that to people gently. For example the woman who wrote a collection of poems that were called things like, 'Do Doggies Believe in Santa?' The poems had haphazard rhymes and irregular metre and weren't funny - except possibly unintentionally. Yet she genuinely believed that they had real merit and that a formal assessment of her work would lead - in a very short space of time - to a publishing deal. Other people are a lot more realistic and a lot further on in what they are doing. And they have decided it's worthing pay for the sort of close detailed read that they wouldn't get on a (much more expensive) MA course.

There are some creative writing forums where you can put some pieces out there and get some constructive feedback they also have regular competitions to enter. Trying one of them may help you decide if writing is something you want to do professionally before taking a big leap.

If I had a pound for every time someone has told me, on learning that I am an author, that they've always felt they could write a book, I would be accruing a nice little sum.

I've always felt I could be an ace violinist. I mean, it's just getting round to it, isn't it?

And it's because people confuse the mechanics of being able to writea basic knowledge of word processing and a laptopwith the art of being able to write.

For this we probably have modern technology to blame. I think a lot of them wouldn't be claiming they could write a novel if they were doing it longhand or even on an old-fashioned manual typewriter.

'Oh I've always wanted to write a book, but I just never have the time!'

Try being a bloody journalist. All that and you're blamed for the ills of The Meeja. Am still not talking to various people after tipsy NYE row about how Nobody Ever Writes Anything Nice About The NHS...

People often say, Oh how do you make time for the writing?

I make time for it because it is my profession. It's my job. It is how I contribute financially to our household.

My personal favourite is when JK Rowling gets drawn into the mix, either:

a) JK Rowling had loads of rejections so there's hope for us all!

or more usually

b) Anyone can write a book, JK Rowling just got lucky with a good idea, I could've written HP in my sleep.

Sure you could've

Sure.

I write non-fiction (including some children's books) and make a meagre living from it - also do copyediting, proofreading and occasional illustration. Back when I had a normal job I wrote fiction in my spare time/for fun but no longer seem to have any spare time... Thanks for the reminder re PLR, I had not got round to registering a couple of recent books. Mine is up an extremely tiny amount from last year.

Abra1d, it's like the old music hall joke:
'Can you play the piano?'
'I don't know, I've never tried!'

'I've had a great ideas for a book. How about you write it and we spilt the proceeds.'

Well, Harry Potter is, after all, a children's book and everyone knows they're really easy - not like writing proper books

In fairness when I first started out writing my first thought was, 'Hey, maybe I'll write a children's book. That seems doable!'

I cannot tell you how much I cringe whenever I look back over those attempts the few pages I haven't yet destroyed

I haven't met all that many people who come out with the 'always wanted to be a writer' thing. I think I am surrounded by a freakish number of people who actually are writers.

I did have an unfortunate incident with someone I know through work who asked me to look at an example of their writing, and it was the first time I've been presented with something truly dire. Everyone else I've met, whose work I've seen, has had at least a basic grasp of the mechanics of storytelling. This person didn't. I didn't know what to say. I just finished up blethering on about a couple of basic techniques and suggesting books to read.

Never again!

I suppose the thing about very good writing is that it looks effortless. As in I the reader cannot see someone trying to write. Like trying to act.

Which is as people say, the skill and the art of it.

Or you see they are Writing. Which is worse.

kungfupanda I met someone who insisted on reading me her Vogon poetry all fucking evening. All evening. And I wasn't even drunk.

Could we get this thread moved to, say, creative writing? There's so much interesting and useful stuff on here it seems a shame for it to go "poof".

Good idea Lurcio.

Excellent thread and as a result of it I have registered on the PLR website and hope to earn at least £1.43 a year from library loans of my trivial contribution to the world of letters.

I've never written any fiction but I've learnt a lot about how it works from critiquing unpublished novels. There's nothing like reading an MS where the point of view or tense jumps all over the place to make you realise how important it is to get this right.

So, OP, that's my tip for you, in addition to all the excellent advice here. Read some crap novels. You can download them for free on Kindle. Then write notes on why they're crap and how you'd improve them. You'll learn loads.

I've asked Mumsnet to move it (presumably they'll contact OP to make sure she's happy with this).

Add message | Report | Message poster SunshineOnACrappyDay Wed 22-Jan-14 11:13:02
kungfupanda I met someone who insisted on reading me her Vogon poetry all fucking evening. All evening. And I wasn't even drunk.

Vogon poetry? Literally Vogon poetry or just really really bad poetry?!

Hello all

This is in AIBU (not Chat), so it wouldn't go 'poof' anyway. But it shouldn't really be in AIBU, and we do like to get you all using our lovely appropriate topic areas, so we've moved this to Creative Writing now.