Set Your Sights High, Don’t Settle For Anything Less

A friend is getting ready to teach an online college-level course about “the business of creative writing.”

He asked me for any strategies I would suggest along those lines and to pass along “things I’ve learned.”

His prompt led me to write this note, below.  Here’s what I sent him.

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Things I’ve learned …

In other words, things I would have told my 30-year-old self as I started to take writing seriously.

And that, in fact, is the main thing. Take it seriously. Treat it as you would a professional working your way into the business. Because there is no one, single way to go about this. There is no application to fill out. Rather, it’s one long interview process—of sorts.

It’s about building relationships and then, one day, getting your first contract. It’s about taking the drive within you to write a book and the drive to be creative with words and turn it into a writing career. And that means pulling out all the stops to make yourself visible and supportive of other writers and the writing community. 

So, number one, is act (not pretend) like you belong.

Stop thinking of writing as a hobby or side-passion or side thing of any kind at all. Start taking it seriously in every way, shape, and form.

Writing

Write every day, for at least an hour. Act like you’re working on deadline from a big-house editor. Commit to writing. Make it part of your daily routine at least five days a week. Preferably six or seven.

Find your voice. Work on every aspect of the writing itself. Identify your weakness. Is it dialogue? Descriptions? Plot? Subplots? Find a way to fix your weaknesses. Get better.

Edit or rewrite something you’ve already written, too.

Is it possible to just write high-quality prose and do nothing else (along the lines of what follows below)? Is it possible to stay sequestered and off in the woods like J.D. Salinger and never have human contact with other writers and the business itself and have publishers drooling in anticipation over your next completed work?

Sure, yes.

Absolutely.

And good luck with that. 

Reading

Read lots. Read outside your comfort zone. Read critically, with an eye toward what works so well. Read book reviews, too. Don’t scan them, read them—especially become familiar with books being published today. What’s selling? What’s not? Pay attention to the publishing business as much as you can, too.

Be Active and Visible

Attend book events in your area. Introduce yourself to writers on tour. Introduce yourself to local writers, too. Buy their books and take the time to write reviews, too. Invite published writers in your area out for coffee. Or tequila. Tequila is fine, too. Tap their brain, make friends, ask if they will look at what you’ve written.

Use their feedback.

Writing Groups

Find writer groups in your area. If there isn’t one, form one. Through social media or old-school means (a note on the bulletin board at the grocery store), you can find fellow writers. Share your works, give thoughtful feedback. Network, network, and network some more. Chances are someone within a 20-mile radius of where you live is well published and well-agented, too. Reach out. The worst thing they can say is “no.” Most writers like to help.  Not all, but most.

Re-Writing

Did you finish a novel? Great. Get at least three solid, dependable readers who will tell you what works and what doesn’t. Then, rewrite your book based on that feedback. Let your book sit. If possible, forget about it. Leave it alone. Come back to it when you’ve been gone so long that you don’t remember the writing. Tackle it again. Look at your opening chapter. Does it match the standards of what you set out to do?

Query Letters

Yes, you’re first going to seek traditional publishing. Because you want to know if your writing meets that level. Because having an agent and a major publishing house behind you really makes a big difference. Sure, you can self-publish. Sure, some self-published books make money. But very few do. And because if you have a traditional publisher then you can spend more time writing. And that’s what you want to do.

Anyway, workshop the hell out of that query letter. Ask published writers to look at your query letter. (Listen to The Shit No One Tells You About Writing podcast to understand how query letters work. Or don’t. There are so many writing podcasts. Find a few and get to know them. Writer’s Bone. Charlotte Reader’s Podcast. Book Riot. On and on.).

Research agents to query. Really research them. Make sure they’re a good fit. Write the query letter to their specifications. Send sample pages or chapters to their exact specifications. Send out a few query letters, but not too many. See if you get any reactions, any feedback on your concept. If yes, tweak your query letter or tweak any feedback on your opening pages. If not, keep querying and keep track of your querying. Keep at it. Don’t give up. It only takes one “yes.”

Conferences

Also, attend any conferences within your budget. Writing conferences—especially writing conferences where there might be agents. Or, possibly, a writer you admire in attendance who might be willing to introduce you to his or her agent. Again, network. Book in-person pitch sessions with as many agents as you can. Refine your pitch. Take feedback and see what work. Meet other writers from around the country. Make friends. Expand your network.

Also, at conferences, hang out at the bar. Get to know writers, agents, and editors as people. Chat them up as fellow publishing industry friends. Hang out. Be real. Don’t be pushy. Whatever you do, don’t follow an agent to the bathroom and make your pitch there. In fact, don’t pitch books at the bar unless asked. Pitch yourself. 

Keep Writing

Novel number one might be incredible. It might be perfect. It’s also possible that you can’t find an agent to represent it. But you’re going to start work on another novel because that’s what professional writers do. Down the road, it will be very helpful to tell a prospective agent that you have several manuscripts in the works. You want to demonstrate that you’re an idea machine and not stuck on one precious novel, although of course it is very precious and important and all of that good stuff. But your message to agents and to friends and everyone who talk with is that you are a writer and you have many ideas for stories. 

And repeat.

Think long-term. Think in terms of years. Put in the work. Keep your sights set on your own, personal goals. What does success look like to you? Don’t settle for anything less.

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Photo by Chris Curry on Unsplash

Mark Stevens