Do You Have the Heart of a Fiction Writer?

Somewhere along the line of life, almost everyone has encountered the idea that they want to become a fiction writer.

They may be aware of this thought, or it may never become more than a subconscious moment of saying oh, that would be neat. You’re here, so you’re probably aware of the thought. When I had that thought, I was a high school freshman, and I took a course in creative writing. Another course I took in my sophomore year was in basic journalism.

Since then, I’ve been writing both fiction and nonfiction and experiencing what it means to have the heart of a fiction writer.

If You’re Already Writing a Little, But You Want to Do More.

I started writing fiction before I ever took a course in it. They were just little stories with one-page chapters and outlandish plots, but I was writing. My goal was to entertain myself first, and that was how I discovered I enjoyed writing. If the header of this section applies to you, skip down to the last header in this article — you don’t need the two questions.

Do You Have Something to Share?

People write because they have a story or message that they really want to share with others. This may not be a conscious message, or it may be something they’re dying to spill.

I’ve written stories about police characters because I want to show the human behind the badge. Like my friend Jordyn (Indie Edits By J), I’ve written about Christians and atheists because I want to show the Christian in their struggle and the atheist as somebody who isn’t a villain.

I write because I want to remember that I am not the only one with struggles, and that those who may appear to have it together, or who do wrong, are broken as well.

Others like Gertrude Chandler Warner may write just to provide an easy, entertaining read for kids they know who don’t have any good books.

If you’re going to be a writer, you don’t have to have a known goal for what you’re sharing under the surface of your story. You’ll discover it as you begin to write. If nothing else, you’re writing to entertain yourself… and that’s as good a goal as any.

Are You Willing to Commit to the Work Involved?

If you want to be a fiction writer, you’re going to have to be willing to live and breathe writing.

• First, you have to be willing to commit time on your schedule to write, without interruptions. This doesn’t have to be more than fifteen minutes a day, but you should try to work on writing daily.

• Second, you have to be willing to do research. Whatever form it takes (reading, googling, traveling) you will do a lot of it.

• Third, you have to be content knowing that writing isn’t going to bring instant success. You’re going to have to practice it (“thanks, Captain Obvious”) before you get good.

• Fourth, if you want to make fiction writing a business, you have to choose your publishing route (self-publish or publishing house?) and learn about it. I haven’t done this yet, but it’s on my schedule as a writer that I need to start researching the best way to self-publish!

I lost my very first novel to a computer crash, but I have a few pages of it left that were printed. I reread those pages laughing (and cringing) at the childish plot I once thought was a good teenage adventure novel. My friends reminded me that it was good writing (for a freshman-age girl) and it shows me how far I’ve come in my writing journey just by sticking to it.

Put It to the Test: Write!

I don’t mean sit down and write a 50K word novel. I mean start writing little scenes and getting an in-the-water-swimming experience of how you feel about writing. Do you like it? Is it just something you do for fun, or do you want to make it a source of income?

Now, I started writing on my own and I had nobody to coach me or tell me the ‘rules’ of writing. To be quite frank, if somebody had told me that you could to be taught to write, I would have told them to take a hike.

Three words.

I. Was. Wrong.

You may want to find a beginner course in journalism or creative fiction (I used two curriculums from Clear Water Press) and take it to actually write a short novel or learn the basics journalism.

Writing became easier for me after I learned the rules. The rules gave me a framework to learn from, and once I had learned, I could choose to break the rules and create my own style.

Brooke Johnson, out.