I've been debating whether or not to pursue this a career. I do enjoy writing, especially writing about things assigned to me like creative essays, short stories, etc. But I enjoy reading more. I wrote tons of plots but I never finished any. I enjoyed all the research I put into it, writing interesting scenes and creating a book of rules. One time, I outlined my story entirely. It was receiving good reception and I had a hundred or so readers who added it on their reading list in the first 2 months despite not having any previous work to show. But my enthusiasm at first settled down and the story has been on hiatus. Did this ever happened to you? Based from your experiences, what are the habits or processes you incorporated in order to keep writing and actually finish something? I am a student right now. I didn't took any course related to creative writing but this is something that I will definitely pursue. Ideally as a mainjob because I only have so much energy. I'd rather dedicate it on things I find meaningful. If you ever have any advice, I will gladly accept it. If there are communities for aspiring professional authors, I'd also want to join. I think it will be helpful to be surrounded by people with similar goals
I'm working so I couldn't give any opinion about writing full time but as for how to keep on writing, make sure you write at least a little for your ongoing story As for me, I'd make sure I write a 1.5k words chapter in a day on the days I work or maybe three chapters on the weekend. If I can't or too tired on that day, I won't push myself. I'd just rest but, don't leave it for long if not it would be hard for you to regain the pace
I’m not an author myself, but some advices authors have while writing is: Training Their Cognitive Fitness “An important point about deep work that is often overlooked is that it’s a skill that must be trained. Many aspiring writers overlook this reality and find their first forays into the written word frustrating and unproductive. Their advice is always to start with training your cognitive fitness before diving into your first big writing project just like you’d train your cardiovascular fitness before trying to run a marathon.” -Cal Newport Serving your audience “Authors often want to write what they want to write, which is fine, but if you want to be read, and especially if you want to be paid, you need to write what an audience wants to read.”-Jeff Haden MOST IMPORTANTLY Just Start “JUST START WRITING, THEN KEEP WRITING. That’s the only advice any aspiring author needs. Ignore the unsure voices in your head, the negative voices of naysayers, the 10-step plans from magazines, and even the advice of “experts.” They were all exactly where you are now…and the reason they succeeded is that they started writing and kept writing. Success isn’t guaranteed, or course. But the first step toward success is always—simply—to start writing.” — Asha Dornfest, (Hope this helps)
This is not any means to persuade or anything just giving my thought and worship to all hard working authors! Even fanfic author!! Tbh I find author’s godly and ur aspiration and ability to be creative chefs kiss. Mainly because I had quite a lot of enlightenment during most random time when I can’t use my phone and jot them down (for ex while working.... or on the ... you name it...) but when it actually comes down to writing and expressing the scene in my head.... blank paper no matter how I write it I’m just not satisfied. It just sounds awkward maybe because it’s my own work and we are the greatest critic to our own work but still I am only able to write three sentences before I called quite and can only bullet point the idea while combing through how to connect this scene to another plot etc...
Thanks everyone! Right now, I made a project management notebook and I'm going to treat my works as one project with deadlines. Not sure if this will work. I set the time frame to one month, which is usually my attention span for all my personal creations. But those are only about my practice projects. As for my passion projects, righg now, I only write when inspired. I'm trying to develop a process I enjoy and that definitely involves working on multiple stories at once. Like 1 major one and the rest are just shorts.
Ask yourself this question: Do I want to write my stories or do I want to be a paid writer? To be a paid writer means writing things you might not enjoy as much as creative writing. Ads, technical manuals, articles for online media, political speeches, term papers for other people, etc. If you want to be a creative writer and gamble on yourself to write something very popular you should expect to have peaks and valleys of little to no income.
I recommend you to read 'Save the Cat!' by Blake Snyder if you want to pursue writing as a profession.
I write full-time freelance. But it isn't on my personal work (not yet, at least). I do commissions for fiction, journalism articles, YouTube scripts, editing, proofreading, and formatting. It's hard work. Writing for a client is a lot different than writing for a general audience. I find a lot of people who blindly leap into this profession realize that it's difficult to adjust their writing voices for a client, rather than writing their own stories. I write every single day (even days off). I have to lol but I've adjusted now to where I write for other people in the mornings and then a chapter for myself at night. By the time the day's done, I've usually written 5k to 8k total. It's a ton of hard work but I wouldn't trade it for the world.