Welcome to another edition of my Advice for Novelists series in which editors, authors, agents and publicists answer the question:"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"
I think one of the things I wish I had known was that there are a lot of different ways to write a book. For YEARS I thought just because I didn't have a complete story mapped out in my head that I could never write a book and be a novelist. Turns out not everyone is wired that way. Just write what you have and every day build on that. To some God gives the entire story at once. To others, we get it pieces at a time (one tiny, frustrating, pound-my-head-on-the-keyboard moment at a time). Just be yourself and don't compare yourself to others and this idea of what a writer is or should be.
My next advice is to maybe consider an easier profession besides a writer. Like an astronaut. A Loche Ness monster hunter. A flamenco dancing tightrope walker. There are some days I think, "Maybe I should become a rock star instead."
--Jenny B. Jones, author of the Katie Parker Production series (In Between, On the Loose & The Big Picture) as well as the upcoming So Not Happening, Book #1 in her brand new series coming in 2009 from Thomas Nelson. Visit her website here.
2 comments:
I love the "next advice." That is hilarious... :) (and things are always funniest when they are partly true.)
"Just be yourself and don't compare yourself to others and this idea of what a writer is or should be."
That's great stuff. I've written several novels and I'm still trying to sort out exactly what a writer should be!
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