Post History

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/49002
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/49002
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/

Stephen King, in a live interview, was asked "What advice do you have for people that want to write?"

His answer (I am repeating from memory) was: "They should write. But I have to tell you, most of the people that say they want to write for a living, do not really want that. They want to HAVE WRITTEN, they want to have a best selling novel that is always generating income, they want to come on talk shows like this, they want some fame."

He has elsewhere talked about his own path, many years of writing stories without selling any, or making a few hundred dollars on them and that's it. But the bottom line is, he loves to write, and writes on his current story every day of the week, regardless of holidays or weekends or whatever.

Now you could say that is approaching writing "like a job"; because like a job you have to put in the hours every day, and like a job there will be some stuff you dislike but have to do, or that you struggle with. There may be disappointments, you submit a year's worth of work and it gets rejected _everywhere,_ without any explanation. (just "Not right for us at this time.")

But that is the only relationship it really has to a job.

I agree with King, if you don't love to write, for the sake of writing, then you will probably not become a professional author. There really is an ART to writing, and like all art it takes some natural talent, and for most people that aren't like musical prodigies, natural talent must be turned into professional talent by many years of practice and discovery and often explicit training in the form of tutorials, books or classes.

# Do not treat writing like a job.

Treat it like a hobby you love doing, and do not HAVE to be paid to justify doing it, but like any hobby you want to become better at it, and you HOPE one day you will be good enough to turn pro, and lots of people will be happy to pay for your work.

You should devote some regular hours to this hobby, but if the only reason you write is for the money, and you believe that if you never get paid then all of your writing was a tragic waste of time, then you should quit now. You almost certainly do not have the interest and drive in crafting stories to become good enough to sell them.

But if you DO love writing stories, and enjoy pushing your imagination and coming up with new stuff, then you aren't wasting your time. People can enjoy painting without any intention to sell. My nephew plays pool every Saturday, he's really good; he's run two tables in a row. He doesn't intend to go pro, he's got a job he likes, a wife and four kids, and pool is just fun with friends. A friend of mine plays the piano a few times a week, learning songs and practicing songs, but she doesn't plan to become a song writer, or a professional pianist, she just likes to play.

Are people wasting their time and money pursuing their hobbies? Is it a waste of time and money to be entertained, by TV or going to a play or by, say, reading fiction?

I would find that a disconcerting attitude for an author, to believe that reading something just for entertainment is a total waste of time and money. It's like they'd think of their audience as suckers.

If you want to be a writer, start writing. Write for the fun of it. Study technique and crafting, see how the pros deal with issues, so you can have more fun by writing better. Dream of going pro, but if that's the **only** reason you write, find another hobby, like investing, or playing poker, or gambling on sports, where your chances of success are (seriously) far better.

Original score: 3