The Essential Checklist for Successful Writers
By: Bradley Sullivan, Gerard Guarino, Haley Page, and Stevie Aldrich
There is no better feeling than being swept away in something that you’re passionate about. The pride we experience after creating something graphic or vivid or unique for the world is a powerful and amazing feeling. But before we get ahead of ourselves, there’s more to it than that. What do I mean? Well, we need to consider how to publish, where to publish, the design of the final product, the editing process, and the possibility of rejection. How and where do we start? Like anything else worth doing, it takes a lot of work to achieve success in the writing world, so let’s start with four basic mottos to live by.
Does Your Work Connect with Your Audience?
Writing a character is more involved than it seems. Chuck Palahniuk, the author of Fight Club, reminds us that “The goal is to create a chorus appropriate to the character.” When writing, you not only need to create a cohesive story, but that story needs to contain people, friends and family, not simply characters.
Omer Friedlander, an award-winning short story writer, talks about listening to your characters. “I like that idea of a conversation between an author and their characters as something on a more equal footing… because I think it feels unnatural when a certain kind of plot is forced on a character, or when you want the story to contort in certain ways that don’t seem organic.” Organic characters are the centerpieces of creative writing. If there’s no logic or drive behind a character, then the character becomes 12-point Times New Roman.
Take Norman, for example. He’s the owner of a successful corner store. He has loyal customers and a happy family. One day he suddenly decides to burn his shop down. What happened? He shouldn’t have any reason to commit arson. This is an extreme example, but it highlights a common issue beginner writers face: building a character that connects with your audience.
Now let’s add some detail. Norman was in massive financial debt. The collectors have been calling for months but he can’t pay his bills, they’ve threatened his family’s safety which led to a moment of desperation. He lit the match. Norman is now a person and not a character. Emotions built up and he committed a crime. Without the added background, his situation and emotions, Norman wouldn’t be recognizable as a person, but simply a name on a page. An absence of fine detail is what Chuck Palaniuk calls “A bland sorbet.”
Are You Showcasing Your Work on The Right Platforms?
The world needs to meet you. Your platforms on social media, a website, blog, TikTok or any internet tool, market your identity as an author. New writers need to make a splash, no matter if your portfolio is overflowing with stories ready to share or you’re working on your first literary piece.
Every beginner needs to remember: you’re on the same planet as your audience and getting to know each other will only bring more attention to your work. This is a great place to make mistakes and let the literary world witness your fantastic journey.
Don’t let the cost deter you from building an author platform. There are a lot of free website builders to help you get started, like WordPress for example. Social media, like Twitter, is a great tool to spread your name while you build your fan base. Just start slow. Give your followers a little taste of your content, and over time they’ll get the full flavor of your author identity and style.
Why Should You Embrace Editing?
You suck. At least, that’s what you’re going to think after someone edits your first draft. Plenty of writers throw in the towel after harsh critiques, but the truth is that without that kind of tough love from your editor, you’ll never be published. This isn’t the industry for the thin-skinned.
You don’t really suck. Everything we’re good at took practice and our writing is no different. We can’t tell the best version of it until we’ve agonized over every detail. It’s like telling yourself that a romantic partner is perfect when you first meet and realizing five years into your marriage that they’re super flawed. Unlike your spouse, your manuscript can be improved with some editing before you and a publisher agree to the perfect literary marriage.
Elise Goitia has worked as an editor and a writer/ghostwriter, so she’s familiar with the drafting struggle. “You kind of need to blurt everything on a page and…it’s the editing and editing and editing that eventually brings it to fruition. Writing’s pretty scummy in the beginning because you’re just figuring things out.” The first draft is just removing the loosely constructed idea from your head and giving it somewhere to live in the real world. It will always suck, but that’s why we edit. And edit again. And edit until our fingers bleed and our characters cry.
Now, let’s pass out this sparkling manuscript to our moms, our neighbors and our dog walkers. It’s time to, as Goitia calls it, beta read!
How Does Everyone Else Deal with Rejection?
Rejection is part of the process, but that doesn’t make it easy. Writers should try not to take it personally since there are so many reasons to expect rejection. Emily Temple says, “If you’re a writer, here’s an idea: resolve to get rejected. 100 times this year, if you’re lucky. After all, some very famous books (and authors) began their careers at the bottom of the NO pile.”
The author of the Immortal Writers series, Jill Bowers, says, “Rejection is hard for me sometimes…And a lot of people rejected the writing. Until they didn’t. So, I just kept writing. And then eventually people started accepting me and my writing…Be open to constructive criticism and be persistent.” Always remember you are in good company and don’t give up!
You Can Breathe Now
You’ve got jobs, school, social obligations and all kinds of responsibilities on your plate. For writers, we also have to carve out an extra hour each day to write, but this should be our therapy. Write the words that exist in your heart and embrace the process because sometimes you need to write the end of the story before understanding the beginning. Remember that stories are meant to be read, so write for everyone even if they never read it. Don’t be afraid to write something off-the-wall because at the end of the day, the world would be lost without stories like yours.