What must I do to be a writer?

Welcome to Fluther.

Write often.

Hell, that’s not right. You don’t even need to write “often”. So it’s a one-word response: Write.

Write and write and keep on writing.

When you complete something and want to get it published, get an agent.

Well, I’m an aspiring writer too, so I have a few suggestions for you. First of all, start small, like with a blog or a dairy. It helps to write just for yourself and it is normally a good idea to wait for a while before sharing your writing with others for criticism. Also, write what you’re truly passionate about, and not what the most popular or “in” topic floating around at any point of time. Finally, write because you enjoy it. Never force the words, just write what you feel and when you feel it. Keep a little note book handy, cause you never know when inspiration will strike you.

Oh, and by the way, welcome to Fluther :)

Live. Experience. Learn. Read. And write, write, write.

Also, I heartily recommend signing up for writing courses, which will teach you structure, discipline and opportunities to test yourself against your peers.

@WasCy already summed it up: Write.

Join forums for writers. Read websites like Writer Beware (especially the blog and the list of resources they link to).

Also:
– Read. Not just forums and trade magazines, but fiction and non-fiction and text books.
– Learn to love research.
– Find publishers for short stories and build a resume of works published.
– Worry about getting an agent later.

One of the hardest things for writers to find is good criticism. And without it, it’s hard to get better.

I’ve found Meetup.com to be a great source of people who are trying to become writers. A minority are really good analysts. But the rest of them are eager to read one’s work which is helpful too.

READ. Read constantly and widely. Focus on the sorts of things you want to write (i.e. if you want to write screenplays, read screenplays), but don’t ignore everything else.

I am with nicobanks Read is extremely important. I don´t know what kind of stuff you want to wirte, But practice no matter what, don´t put all your ideas in a blog, you can recycle them later. sit and write one hour every day no matter what. if you dont have the words, work in the structure of the stories or the essays. ufff I wish my english was better so I could give you better advice. But if you know Spanish I bet I can tell a lot more!!! hahaha
Perhaps you can tell us a little bit about what kind of writer you want to be.

Some Reading recomendations:
Hand to Mouth, Paul Auster
The Stranger, Albert Camus
Sputnik Sweeheart, Haruki Murakami
Blow-up and other Stories, Julio Cortázar (An amazing writer who I read every day)

I’ve found this site to be immensely useful in terms of critique and feedback. It requires that you have already written something though! 2000 words is enough for a short story to get reviewed, if you have a novel underway then up to 7000 are permitted. Go take a look, it may be premature but if you are already writing, you will be in good company.

OP is already history. So we are whistling in the wind. Why enrol, ask a question and then leave? Waste of energy, hers and ours.

@gailcalled

She’s apparently encouraging us to be writers…

Too bad she’s not a clearer writer herself. Personally, I know how to be a writer.

@barbaragreenan do you mean a fiction writer, a journalist, or some other kind of writer? Different kinds can allow for different kinds of procrastination, lol. But it’s true.

Also, what experience do you have, if at all with writing?
I don’t think a writer needs to have a lot of exp., but education helps guide a student to understand the writing process. I am a firm believer that you can teach yourself how to write by reading the kinds of writing you want to focus on. Paying attention to structure (form), how the author uses dialog, why the author chooses pretty much everything to present their ideas. Don’t get overwhelmed by studying this too much in depth, though. I would start with short stories. Read them first for pleasure (since you should only write because you want to), then read them again, focusing on one specific element at a time (plot, dialog, setting, etc.) and how it effects the story as a whole.

Once you learn why something happens, is said, is done, etc, you’ll be able to figure out what you want to do in your own writing. For me, I like John Updike’s short stories because they’re interesting and its fun to see how pretty much every single sentence has a purpose (ex. read “A & P”).

Also, practice makes perfect. Famous athletes weren’t perfect when they played their first games. They caught onto their craft when they focused on technique, and they tried as hard as they could even when they lost games.

Good luck!

@Carly: @barbaragreenan is no longer a Fluther member.

a writer writes. that’s the difference btw a person who is a writer and a person who isn’t.

Sometimes a question asked in haste gets really good answers.

Sometimes a question asked with intent to spam gets such good answers that to silence them would be a shame.

So, even after the ill-intending users are escorted off the property, the question and the excellent responses remain up to inspire and help others.

:)

@gailcalled

im confused… why is this thread still going if the question asker is no longer listening? :(

See @Dog‘s response, I guess. The consensus seems to be, “If you want to be a writer, then write.”

Making marks on stuff is the first step. Make marks on stuff that people see and understand as ideas and your a bona fide writer. Keep elaborating and try to write thoughts that express things you think or want to express and your a lyrical genius so far ahead of caveman pictographs.

Clearly nothing here is going to get the OP writing, since she’s departed Fluther. On the bright side, it has gotten a lot of folks writing.

@6rant6:Or thinking about writing, or writing about writing, all of which is good.

i suspect she might have wanted to sell us a writing course or self-help materials or coaching services or something of the sort. people who want to be writers will pay money for all kinds of stuff.