“The moment you doubt whether you can fly, you cease for ever to be able to do it.”
J.M. Barrie, Peter Pan
Looking to become a writer yourself? Here are some tips, tricks and things to consider.
Top 5 Craft Books I Recommend
- Save the Cat! Writes a Novel by Jessica Brody
- Story Genius: How to Use Brain Science to Go Beyond Outlining and Write a Riveting Novel by Lisa Cron
- The Scene Book: A Primer for Fiction Writers by Sandra Scofield
- Art and Fear: Observations on the Perils (and Rewards) of Artmaking by David Bayles and Ted Orland
- Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life by Anne Lamott
Some Things You’ll Want to Succeed as a Writer
- Stories: Keep reading those faves, people. Figure out what you like, what you hate, why the gems glitter and why the train wrecks combust. (Or perhaps the moment that promising winner starts slowly decomposing into eye-gouging torture.)
- Something to Write With: (And, no, I don’t mean an AI tool.) Writers need to write, lucky duck. While I wish the DESIRE to craft a genius, brain-expanding novel would make it so, I’ve had no luck there. Besides, nobody (or AI tool) can say what YOU need to say in the way YOU need to say it. The world needs you as you, not filtered (even brilliantly) through a robot. So, jump in and try imitating some of those favorite books you’ve been studying.
- Trust in YOU: Write the things that come. Even if they freak you out. Or intimidate you. Or incriminate you. Write even they make you think, “Wow, I suck at this.” Let your imagination run wild and unearth what’s there. If you keep at it long enough, you’ll also find yourself thinking, “Huh. Well, THAT’S cool.” Also, the Delete button is real.
- Tenacity: Practice, practice, practicey-practice. Did I mention practice? Because, PRACTICE. Just like that champion-hot-dog-eater couldn’t have downed 76.5 Wienerschnitzels without prepping their stomach to not-hurl, you have to grab onto this dream and hold tight if you want it to last longer than a few moments of hopeful, bestseller, movie-deal intoxication.
- Love: Love the writing. Love the peeps you write about. Love the peeps you write for. And the more you love YOU, the more unique and impactful your work will become. As a beloved writing mentor once told me…love has everything to do with it.
- Resilience : Rejection, people. It’s a thing. An unwelcome, obnoxious thing that is both miserable and wildly helpful. (But still miserable.) Published and unpublished writers deal with it. So when it does its ugly tap dance on your kitchen floor, throw that tantrum, bust out that ugly-cry, and, in my case, bake that gory, red velvet, Hunger-Games-themed cake. And then, *sigh,* get back at it. Annoyingly, rejection has pushed my work to higher levels (grumble) than it might’ve attained (grunt) had it been picked up more quickly (growl). So, yay, rejection! And vomit.
- Faith, Hope, Trust and Pixie Dust: Tinkerbell knows what’s up. To fly the writer’s flight, you must put in all the work, think all the happy thoughts (about yourself and your bookish future), and a douse yourself with a serious dose of magical timing and good luck. Trust that your time to visit Neverland will come. (Did this turn into self-coaching? Yes, yes it did.)