I always go back to Kipling: "There are nine and sixty ways of constructing tribal lays, and every single one of them is right!"
If a writer realy wants to make a living from writing, he'll knock off this silly fiction crap* and concentrate on nonfiction. To make a living at nonfiction requires a relatively achievable list of traits:
1. Put words together serviceably. 2. Come up with moderately interesting article ideas. 3. Meet your deadlines. 4. Don't be a prima donna about editing. 5. Have sufficient social skills to not put off editors.
Any skills above that are gravy. I say this as someone who has several friends who make a living as journalists.
To be a fictioneer who makes a living, however, requires at least one more element: the "magic something" that makes an editor fall in love with your story. That's the hard bit, and it has a little to do with talent, a little to do with craft, a little to do with timing and luck. It's the bit that an author really can't control or easily learn, and even writers who have it will occasionally lose it.
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branchandroot
no subject
Date: 2008-03-29 05:27 am (UTC)If a writer realy wants to make a living from writing, he'll knock off this silly fiction crap* and concentrate on nonfiction. To make a living at nonfiction requires a relatively achievable list of traits:
1. Put words together serviceably.
2. Come up with moderately interesting article ideas.
3. Meet your deadlines.
4. Don't be a prima donna about editing.
5. Have sufficient social skills to not put off editors.
Any skills above that are gravy. I say this as someone who has several friends who make a living as journalists.
To be a fictioneer who makes a living, however, requires at least one more element: the "magic something" that makes an editor fall in love with your story. That's the hard bit, and it has a little to do with talent, a little to do with craft, a little to do with timing and luck. It's the bit that an author really can't control or easily learn, and even writers who have it will occasionally lose it.
*meant ironically!