What Does It Take to Be a Full-Time Writer?
As full-time writers, Jocelyn and I engage with life, our environment, and each other to inspire our stories, knowledge, and dialogue.
Last month, an upcoming college freshman interviewed me about how to become a full-time writer. While I can’t speak for every writer, I shared the following tips with him, which I believe have contributed to my ability to work for so many years in a profession I love.
Gather life experience.
Instead of saying, “stay in school” and “get your education,” I told him to accumulate life experiences. Perhaps I’m biased. After I got expelled from high school, I enrolled in another school before dropping out. I figured I could get my GED and work several jobs to save for college. (Yes, I realize now that what I did was the equivalent of selling my car for gas money.) But following a different path gave me life experiences that I wouldn’t have had otherwise. I eventually completed my master’s degree and took courses toward my PhD before deciding I enjoyed working more than acquiring letters after my name.
If you want to write, gather as many diverse life experiences as possible. The good, bad, normal, and weird events you encounter will give you a unique worldview and writing voice.
Read solid literature.
You don’t build muscle by watching people lift weights at the gym, but you can learn the writing disciple by being a student of the type of writing you wish to master.
Watch well-done movies and television series.
Whenever my wife tells me I watch too much TV, I tell her it’s research. Watching SpongeBob or Baywatch reruns won’t make you a keen storyteller, but watching well-written/produced movies and series can teach you what it takes to engage an audience, build characters and suspense, and make people pine for a sequel or next episode.
Observe and listen.
The best way to recreate dialogue that rings true is to listen to the flow of real conversations, which are often messy. People talk over one another, get distracted mid-sentence, adamantly agree or disagree with each other, and change subjects. Unlike movies where characters repeat lines while standing on a mark for the camera, organic conversations feature a rhythm that’s hard to duplicate unless you study it closely.
Study psychology and acting.
Characters in stories are driven by hidden or overt motivations, just like every human being. When I see someone get out of their car to move a turtle across the road, I learn something about that person that goes beyond what I’d know if he told me, “I like animals.” Knowing the basic principles of Watson, Skinner, Pavlov, Freud, Jung, Rogers, Adler, and Seligman provides insight into why people do what they do.
Similarly, acting allows a writer to “get into the head” of a character, something that’s critical to portraying real people responding to life.
Start writing.
The most obvious tip is the one that trips up most first-time writers. Yes, it’s important to approach writing like a discipline. Live deeply, read great authors, watch engaging television programs, listen to real people talk, study psychology and acting, and become a student of writing. But the only way to become a writer is to write. Don’t worry about writing good. Or well. See what I did there? It’s okay to not know or follow all the grammar rules. Heaven knows I don’t! Just write.
Initially, you may feel the need to do something non-writing to “get into the mood.” That’s fine when you start. But eventually, schedule a time to write and stick to it like an athlete sticks to a diet and strength-training routine.
Tied closely to that concept is to write what you know and love. My biggest failure in high school (besides getting expelled) wasn’t that I didn’t like math. It was that I didn’t like doing math homework, because I dreaded the “show your work” requirement. So I didn’t do it. But when I had to create an essay for history or literature class, I didn’t need to write in big letters to fill up a page. Why? Because I loved it, I knew the topic, and I had thoughts I couldn’t wait to share. Document what you love.
Happy writing!
