What does it take to become a professional writer?

In the last post we talked about the process of getting your work published, so I thought it was valuable to take a step back in the process and deal with the question that often haunts aspiring writers ‘do I have what it takes to become a professional?’.

Firstly, there are many types of paid writing work across a diverse range of disciplines from writing scripts, books, journals and newspaper articles, to writing marketing content. There are also as many subjects available to write about as there are diverse human experiences, after all writing is quite literally the translation of human experience into an artful literary presentation.

Writing is not like regular jobs, even if you do find yourself in a standard office environment the chances are it is unlike any other office based career. The experience of a writer is more in-line with that of a musician or artist. It takes more than just training, most importantly it requires talent and an extraordinary level of dedication. Becoming a professional writer takes time, will lead to several knock backs and you must be prepared that in the end it could never actually happen.

Just like art or music, there are no set rules as to how you should approach your work or make money from it. It is however essential to have an understanding of the subject you are writing about and that you acquire the skills of your craft - including grammar, structure, pacing and formatting. 

So, what attributes do you need?

1) Passion

Like many creative pursuits, supply far outstrips demand for writers. So it is important to retain a burning passion and love for the art of writing, if you plan on making a successful career of it. Establishing yourself as a professional writer will often mean writing for free and building up a portfolio of work, this is where having a natural desire to write becomes essential. Artists and musicians often do it just for fun, so if you're not writing all the time yourself, do you really want to be a writer?

2) Practice

Each writer has a different methodology when sitting down to write, however almost all writers agree that ‘practice makes perfect’, to succeed you must be prepared to put in the hard hours. Some writers will recommend writing at at least a thousand words a day, but like any profession there are certain number of hours that are required to become proficient. The time required will depend on natural talent, how quickly you learn and how much passion you have.

Don’t be put off by your early attempts, no one is a literary genius overnight and with practice bad habits will tend to go away. As you write more your style will develop and your confidence will grow. If you look at the careers of the world's top sportsmen, the people at the top of their professions will often be the people who practice the hardest and longest. David Beckham for example, famously always stayed behind after training spending hours perfecting his free kicks.

So if you want to be a writer, get practising.

3) Study

People often mistakenly state that taking formal training means you will produce work just like everyone else. If you don’t learn the basics of your craft it will take a lot longer to be successful. Even the most abstract of artists have learnt the basics of perspective, space, colour and also studied the past masters. Alongside practising, studying the basic conventions that govern the discipline will mean you are more likely to quickly progress as a writer. It is no good writing the most creative story in the world if it has a structure that puts the reader off.  

Once you have a basic grounding in a subject and you understand its conventions, you can then develop your own style which allows you to blur the boundaries and innovate effectively.

There are many books, guides and courses that can be taken that will show you how to be a better writer, so I suggest investigating these today.

Becoming a Professional Writer 

Much like any profession no amount of natural ability will take you all the way, without equal measures of determination, study and practice you are unlikely to succeed. It could take 20 years, it could take 6 months, but there is no short cut to doing your passion for a living.