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SPECULATIVE
FICTION WRITER
PAUL ALLAN COMSTOCK
Speculative Fiction Writer
The Art Of Writing
The Long Lonely Path
One fact of writing seems to ellude a lot of writers that
desire to make it a profession. That fact is that writing is not an
easy life, and has cost authors their jobs, marriages, and all sorts of
other heartbreaks. Most established authors talk about how they
struggled when they started out. They tell stories on how difficult it
was for them to make that first professional sale and publication.
These stories should be taken to heart, because it is a hard lesson to
learn.
Writing professionally is far more dependent upon persistence
than talent. I have read that there are only around 2,000 authors
writing fiction today in the United States that make a living at it,
and it alone. And that's not just Speculative Fiction authors, that's
all genres and forms, including literary fiction. That's 2,000, which
excludes even a lot of the published authors out there, because they
can't live off of what the writing brings in. That means that most of
those published authors you see on the bookshelves do something else
besides writing to make a living. The sad truth is that it can take
even a talented and persistent writer years to get their first
professional publication, whether it's a short story, or a novel.
Of course, an author may be perfectly happy to write and not
make a living at it. An author can do that and still be considered
established, but not necessarily a professional, and there is
absolutely nothing wrong with that. But an author shouldn't kid
themselves because it doesn't change the fact that just to get
published, regardless of being considered professional, will take as
much work as for a writer who wants to do it for a living. Becoming a
professional writer will require time, sacrafice, and patience. It will
require giving up some of the things a writer enjoys just to finish
that next chapter of a novel, or that short story they've been working
on. It'll mean turning off the TV when they'd like to watch a movie, or
staying at home to get a couple hours of quiet writing time when the
wife takes the kids to a movie, or out to dinner. It might mean giving
up that vacation to go to a writing camp, or a weekend here and there
to go to a convention.
Now, I understand you might take all of this with some doubt,
as well you should. After all, it's coming from an author who hasn't
made even their first professional sale yet, but don't believe me. Just
go to some of the links I've included of successful authors and read
their stories. Read about their struggles and how they got that first
break, and what they went through to get there. It might even seem that
some of these stories say that luck is what is required to make it. Not
that I have anything against luck--heck, I'd take some luck if it came
my way--but the only thing an author can truly count on is their own
persistence and determination.
So, if I haven't scared anyone away from writing as a
profession, then the least I can do is to offer the little bit of
advice and knowledge that I have on the art of writing. For much better
advice from established authors that have helped me become a better
writer, check out the links to their sites in the left hand panel. Each
and every one of these authors is a very good communicator, established
writer, and teacher in the art of writing. All of them have some very
good articles and advice on how-to-write on their websites.
Copyright © 2006 by
Paul Allan Comstock. All Rights Reserved
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