How to become a writer can be a very long process. However, you can start this long journey by motivating yourself. You should begin your writing quest with the right motivation.
There can be many different kinds of motivation which an aspiring writer can choose from to start his writing career. These may include artistic, financial or expressive kinds of motivations. A person would be motivated to write because he wants to explore the artistic aspect of this activity. Other people would like to learn how to become a writer so that they will be able to earn a living out of writing. Still many others just would like to express themselves and engage in writing to share their feelings and sentiments, even less artistically.
Arguably, the best starting point on how to become a writer is self-expression. Then, developing the interest into a craft comes next. Lastly, a novice writer will be able to use his writing skills for profit when he or she has considerably developed them. The writing profession is full of artists and professionals who have a lot to share from their heart and mind.
To become a writer, one must have a talent to start with; then, enough motivation to let a dream get off the ground. The right kind of motivation is needed in keeping the quest for improvement and perfection going. There will be many setbacks and challenges an aspiring writer will encounter in his future writing career. It is important to have motivation to keep him going. The challenges include, among others, writer's block and rejection. The writing arena involves editors, publishers and readers who require many writing ideas from the writer. These people may also criticise or reject writers' works.
Talent is an important ingredient to becoming a writer. However, insufficiency in such can be compensated with motivation, positive attitude and hardwork.
If you are a recent secondary school graduate with interest and passion for creative writing, a good career option would becoming a writer for fashion magazines. But before you select a career as a fashion magazine writer, you should know the general tips or guidelines on how to become a writer for a fashion magazine. Keep in mind that becoming a professional fashion magazine writer does not just involve formal education and training, but it also involves other factors that would contribute to your plans of becoming a writer.
The first step on how to become a writer for fashion magazine would be obtaining a formal education such as an undergraduate course in or related to writing. The primary courses include journalism, communication studies, mass communication, media studies, literature, and other courses that related to writing. It is important that when you take up an undergraduate course, it should have a programme for on the job training or internship in a magazine or publishing company before you graduate from the course.
During your undergraduate studies, you would not necessarily take up lectures or discussions on subject areas related to fashion and style. Therefore, another important tip is learning and familiarising about topics related to fashion and style. If it is possible, you should regularly read magazines about fashion and style. Read the regular columns of those magazines and study the tone and style of writing of the magazine columnists.
Take note that the tips or guidelines on how to become a writer for fashion magazines would not necessarily lead you to fulfilling and successful career as a fashion magazine writer. The other factors that would contribute to a successful career includes having the traits or characteristics of positive disposition, professional behaviour and attitude, perseverance, enthusiasm, motivation, and the drive to fulfill your goals or objectives for your career no matter how many obstacles or challenges you would encounter.
It was several days before high school graduation when I finally decided that I would pursue a career as a writer for magazine publications so that the first thing that came to my mind was the question of “how to become a writer for magazines or magazine publications?” I knew that the first thing that I should do is when I graduate from high school, I should study at a university or college and obtain an education in journalism, literature or other courses related to writing and communications.
But a few days before our high school graduation, our school guidance counselor gave a career counseling session on how we could pursue our career as the guide for the course we would choose for our college education. The counselor also told us to research on how we could successfully pursue our career choice so I read materials in the school library and online article from the Internet on how to become a writer for magazines.
From the various copies of reading materials that I obtained from the library and from various Internet websites, I made my own written notes that would be my guide in my college education and the planning how to become a writer for magazines when I graduate from college. In my notes, I learned that a formal education is preferable, but not necessarily compulsory for aspiring magazine writers. An undergraduate degree such as a bachelor's degree in journalism, mass communications, literature, and other courses that involve creative writing could be a good start for entry-lever writer positions in publishing companies especially the companies that publish publications such as newspapers and magazines.
However, I learned that short-term courses combined with on the job training or internship experiences in actual work settings could also be stepping stone for entry-level positions in publishing companies because many publications would value the combination of work experiences and formal training of newly hired writers.
Starting the writing process is fairly easy enough since it is basically just writing words on a piece of paper or computer screen. However, there is a process involved on how to become a write who is effective and who connects well with his or her intended audience. Below are simple tips on how to become a writer that will help a person hone his or her writing skills and with enough practice and determination, eventually turn into an exceptional writer in his or her chosen area of writing specialisation:
- Practice writing everyday. Write a lot or a few words and do not worry about the content or structure yet. The point of this exercise is for you to get used to writing. The first step that you will need to take on how to become a writer is to get used to doing the task itself. Making writing a daily habit also insures you against writer's block.
- Read a lot. In writing, just like other professions, you will also need to choose a specialisation. In order to achieve a high level of proficiency on a subject, you will need to read extensively on the subject. Even if you have a degree on this subject, reading is still part of the steps on how to become a writer because it will ensure that you will always have up-to-date knowledge on the subject. However, read only works of literature that have passed standards such as those published by universities and reputable organisations. The objective of this exercise is to expose you to the correct style of writing and use of language, and you will only learn this lesson if you are reading the right materials. To this end, you must have a clear idea of what passes a good writing and what does not. Choose a favourite author or genre that conforms to these writing standards. Broaden your reading horizons as well by reading both early and contemporary authors.
A novel is a book written as a long narrative in literary prose or also defined as a fictional literary prose that is commonly written in a narrative style. For aspiring writers like me who are creative, innovative and has the talent for writing fiction, becoming a novel writer is a good career opportunity. Although I am still in the second year of my course of bachelor of arts in English literature, I am already making preparations on how to become a writer for novels so that when I graduate from my course, I would be ready for the things I would do to fulfill my dream of becoming a successful novelist.
So a few days before the end of the third term in my second year at the university, I read and studied books, and other reading materials on how to become a writer for novels and took notes of the information and other materials I read. I made sure that my written notes would come in handy by the time I graduate and pursue my dream.
So I am sharing with everyone on the general tips on how to become a writer for novels:
It is preferable if you have a bachelor's degree in English, journalism, literature, creative writing, literary studies, and other courses related to writing and editing because a formal education that includes internship or on the job training in actual practice settings would be exposing you to the academic and practical aspects of writing.
When you have graduated from your course, you should join internship programs offered by publishing companies, newspapers and magazines, and other organisations involved in creative writing and editing. You could also obtain part-time jobs in publishing companies, newspapers and magazines so you could continuously develop and improve your skills and techniques for writing. On the other hand, you could start as a freelance writer by submitting your works to literary newspapers, magazines and other publications.
Conquering Writing Obstacles: How to Become a Writer
06:50 in Conquering Writing Obstacles Posted by Eshin780Writing is a good way to earn money because you are able to turn what you love doing into something that lets you earn money. In addition, there are many types of employment that can be availed of through writing: freelance writing, contract-based or regular employment. There are also many types of writing assignments: academic writing, journalistic writing, writing press releases, creative fiction writing, creative non-fiction writing and many others. However, it is quite easy to just ignore one's writing tasks until it becomes a cloud hanging over your head. Below are simple tips on how to become a writer who is effective, consistent and produces work according to the deadline:
- Allow others to check on your progress regularly. This is one of the important roles of an editor if you were to ask a learned person on how to become a writer. The thought that someone is expecting to see your work at a predetermined period gives you motivation to start and eventually finish the work. In addition, an editor will how accurate your content is, as well as any mistakes you may have overlooked in spelling, grammar, format or structure.
- Avoid writer's block by trying to write everyday. For someone who is just learning how to become a writer, this may be one of the most annoying things to do but its practicality cannot be ignored. Similar to an athlete, daily training through writing keeps your writing skills in constant tip-top condition. Doing this will also allow you to learn new things everyday, whether it be a new style of writing, a new word for your vocabulary, or a new technique of doing your writing tasks more efficiently.
- Experiment with different writing styles by expanding your reading to a wide variety of magazines, newspapers, journals and even Internet website content. In the profession of writing, reading is just as important in how to become a writer and get a feel of the writing style that you feel comfortable with.
It was in the third year of my bachelor of arts in English literature degree that I decided I wanted to become an author or writer for children's literature. My decision was partially influenced by coming from a family with several siblings, attending regular family reunions where children were always around, and growing up in a community surrounded by neighborhood children. So aside from being busy in doing academic tasks in my final year at the university, I read and studied books and other materials on how to become a writer for children's literature. I wanted to make sure I would be ready and prepared in pursuing my dream of becoming a children's book writer after graduation.
I started reading books and materials during the first term and I continued reading and studying just before my graduation. The books and other materials I read and studied showed me many tips or guidelines on how to become a writer for children's literature especially for amateur or aspiring writers.
I learned that reading and researching books for children would expose you to the different writing styles used by various authors. I learned that I should start with the most famous children's book authors such as the Brothers Grimm, Hans Christian Andersen, Lewis Carroll, C.S. Lewis, other authors until the contemporary children's book authors. It is preferable to read as many of their published works if you could so you could read and study the unique writing style of each author.
Another important guideline on how to become a writer for children's literature would be joining an organisation or society of children's book authors and illustrators. If you have already written drafts or initial copies of your works, you could show them to other authors and get their feedback or advice. Joining an organisation of authors would also provide you with important contacts for literary agents, publishers, and other people who could help you in publishing your book.
Although I completed a bachelor of arts in journalism degree from a university, I have to admit that I did not learn everything I need to know on how to become a writer for a magazine from the academic setting of the university where I studied. Some of the tips or guidelines that I learned for becoming a magazine writer came from my years of discussions with fellow students, lecturers, academics, reading and studying various materials from the Internet, and from the practical placement training that I took in the last year of my course and the job intern ships I took after graduation from the university.
So I decided to collect all the tips and other lessons I learned on how to become a writer for magazines from the time I was in the university until now that I started with my new job as a magazine writer. The tips on how to become a magazine writer:
- The usual approach for becoming a magazine writer is applying as an in-house or staff writer, or as a freelance writer for a specific magazine or a publishing company. The general writer job qualifications include a bachelor's degree in journalism, media studies or related fields, and experience in writing for school or community newspapers or other publications, or for Internet websites.
- You could either take the path of writing general articles or specialise in specific articles such as sports, culture, business, lifestyle, current events and news, and other sections appearing in magazines.
In my own opinion, these tips on how to become a writer for a magazine is incomplete and is still a continuing process. I believe that working as a magazine writer is a continuing learning process for me and I learn new things each day as I go on with my job whether I do it inside the office or when I go on field assignments.
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