Have you ever read something that has been published and said to yourself "Wow, this is horrible. If this person can get published then so can I"? I got this feeling when I read the first Harry Potter book. It gave me a little hope that I could be a pubished writer someday.
yeah sometimes i wonder how some of these authors, and especially celebrities are able to sell books. i get that they are famous but come on, i read nicole richie's book and it was horrible, i could write better, but it's all on the topic and the person who writes it. just sad for the hard workin writers who have a harder time to get publish.
There are two or three things a successful writer has that 99.99% of people dont 1) self discipline. Writers tend to have the ability to work at a novel till its completely finished - high quality - no loose ends - reading material and will do so for many long hours per day. 2) Innate sense of what a readership wants - most people just whitter on writing stuff that is not original in plot or concept - write the first paragraph and then dont know what happens next - also its about style and content - books are written for readers and therefore a good knowledge of what readers want is essential - no-one wants another writer full of harry potter stories they want the original 3) a good story - what stories do you have that are absolutely rivetting?
I am facing the same dilemma with painting. I find that I can paint better than Michaelangelo, but when I took my paintings down to the National Gallery they told me to "fuck off or we will call the police". I then tried the Portrait Gallery where I pretty got the same hostile treatment. It's as if these people couldn't appreciate my art. Words cannot describe how disheartened I became. As a last ditch attempt I tried the Victoria and Albert Museum. I actually managed to lean one of my paintings against one of their walls, before a warden kicked my ass out. I had to grab my painting and make a run for it, bceause they released an Alsatian dog which seemed very keen to feast on my reproductive sacks. My eyes were weary and I had lost all sense of time and emotion. I was festering alive when suddenly a call came through which changed my life. Somebody was finally interested in my paintings! Someone apreciated my talent. The Tate Gallery of Modern Art paid me £75.000.000 for them and the rest is history.
oops long diatribe while pissed on a couple of bottles of wine and some bells whiskey - edited and cut - thank god no-one quoted me or read it The gist of it was - hard work will get you everywhere but seriously - be broke for 5 years at uni - then practice your chosen field of art for 10 years (dont get a job that gets in the way of artistic endeavour )- so prepare to be broke for 15 years till youre that good only an idiot would fail to see how talented you are. Then if youre lucky enough your art will have a pair of wrought iron bollocks the size of texas that no-one can ignore - quite a few of my friends are professional artists either in written, visual, or musical form and it took on average 15 years of being utterly broke to achieving their first regular money from creative endeavours. A guy I know who writes and directs adverts for saatchi (wont mention which ones but you have ALL seen his work on TV) , two pro - photographers, a couple of journalists and a painter - who are all friends of mine took absolutely years to make a living - but to become a household name - pah!!!! forget it unless youre extraordinarily lucky as well as talented like jk rowling Dont diminish the achievement it takes to write an original work and never underestimate what it takes to make a living from art - so to become a houshold name like Rowling - well thats something I doubt anyone here has got the talent to acieve - that takes artistic and social skills few people have got - she is very very talented and adept at social situations
