Things I Never Considered About Being a Writer

When I decided to do this, I had certain expectations. I expected I would have to take writing seriously, commit to treating this like a "real" job, learn to look at it like a business, actually do the writing, and continue to read. 


Those are pretty reasonable expectations. And they all hold true. The things I DIDN'T know could fill a book, however. And you know how I like to keep my posts relatively short, so let me try to summarize:

• The Interaction. I never would have dreamed of being able to communicate with others not only in my position, but real authors - ones I enjoyed reading! And then there are the agents and editors that so generously give of their time on Twitter and blogs, even workshops. What other industry has such an open and sharing network of kind and like-minded people at your disposal? 
• The Reaction of Family and Friends. I figured my family would be supportive (they better be). But extended family? Friends? I held back on telling people for a long time. Then came my first publication. A short children's poem called "Ode To Mud" in Stories For Children magazine. Suddenly I had enough confidence to whisper to a few people what I was doing... And wow! I'm lucky to have such supportive people in my life. I believe there was only one person who looked at me like, oh no, you think you can write? I still hesitate when others ask what I do, but I've trained myself to say "I'm a writer." Because I am. Of course I now have my fair share of people asking me to proofread their reports and things. But I don't mind.
• The Depth of Learning Involved. I joked with my husband recently that I probably have the equivalent of a self-taught Masters degree. But really, it's probably true. I'm not putting down anyone's graduate program, I'm just saying, I've put so much effort into studying craft over the last few years that I'm amazed at the amount of information swimming in my head. I love that part of it though! And I look forward to continuing my education.
• The Emotional Rollercoaster. I was an actress for a time, so I'm no stranger to the whole expect rejection thing. But this is different. For one thing, it takes more time to get that rejection, which is probably what I personally have had the hardest time with. On an audition, you know pretty quickly whether you made it to callbacks or not. But wow, when you DO get an acceptance? Or a good review? I'll take a smattering of those soaring feelings in exchange for all the waiting any day.
• The Friendships. I've made some of the best friends of my life doing this. They really "get" me and I get them. I wouldn't trade that for anything in the world. It might sound sappy, but it's true! You know who you are.

I could go on, but I promised to try and keep it short. What did you never expect when you started writing? Share!

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Write What You Know

First - don't forget to enter my contest and check out my story in PLAYTHINGS OF THE GODS.

Okay - write what I know. That's why I constantly talk about vampires, werewolves and mermaids.

Allow me to clarify, see when you hear the old adage, "write what you know" it doesn't mean what you might think.

Not clear? Let's try it a different way. Say I'm writing a scene where a vampire lurks in the shadows waiting to attack our innocent MC. Does that mean I have to have experience being stalked by vampires to do the scene justice? Let's hope not.

What it really means (in my humble opinion) is that I have to have knowledge of what the character might be feeling in this situation. A deep and all consuming fear? Powerlessness perhaps? Well, heck - I know those! I bet you do too. The situation I was in when I felt these things might be different from the one my MC is in, maybe not even half as dramatic. But the raw emotions are the same. So that's the experience I draw on. It's important to be able to generalize your experiences and feelings enough to recreate them in your manuscript. This may sound pretty simple, obvious even, but sometimes it's difficult to see what's right in front of your nose.

A second relevant interpretation of "writing what you know" has more to do with NOT writing what you DON'T know. In other words, I have full license to create an entire new world with my own laws and customs and people. But if I plan on writing about a member of the Supreme Court of the United States of America, I better either have first hand knowledge of law and the court system, or do my homework! Because no matter how artistically you can weave a story from your imagination, there will be others out there that see right through it because they DO know.

So do your research. Please. If you choose an actual location for your setting, and you haven't been there, find out as much as you can about it. Example: I've used Google maps street view. I've also pretended to be shopping for a house and searched online for information about certain neighborhoods and schools. And all for a tiny part of a single paranormal manuscript. But I wanted to make it as believable as possible. I wanted to feel like I was really there with my characters. Never did I take the attitude that since one of my characters was a demon, I didn't need to make the rest of it realistic.*

How can I expect readers to become invested in my story and characters if they can't put aside reason, at least long enough to fully immerse in my story and world? It has to feel real no matter how fantastic it is. And knowing what you're talking about makes that hurdle a lot easier to tackle.

*Side-note here - don't go overboard. Meaning, find out as much as you can to make the picture in your head complete when writing, but only put in the details that are important to the story and characters. It can be a tricky balance to maintain.