I have recently conducted a “virtual” interview with professional writer Christopher Moore. I asked him for some tips on how to become an accomplished professional writer and how difficult it is to become one. The following is a short script of our conversation.
Me: “How easy or difficult is it to become a published writer?”
Moore: “Becoming a "published" writer isn't that difficult. If one has a little talent and is willing to work, it's not that tough to get published in local magazines and papers. Now becoming a NATIONALLY published writer, that's a different story, and very often takes years of work and tons of luck as well. It's obviously easier to publish non-fiction than fiction, simply because there's so much more of it, but it's still not easy.”
Me: “What is the key ingredient to success in the publishing industry?”
Moore: “Honestly? Luck. I read authors every year who are better than I am and are not as successful. On the other hand, there are authors who are just horrible and they sell many, many more copies than I do. (I really only have my own experience as a measure.) The difference, as far as I can see, is luck.”
Me: “What advice would you give to an aspiring writer who is not currently a good writer or has nothing interesting to write about?”
Moore: “Well, not being very good can usually be fixed, but having nothing interesting to write about can't. If you can't think of anything to write about, it's best, probably, to learn another skill or aspire to a different career. (I'm talking about fiction here. If you want to write non-fiction, you can always work as a journalist. Then they tell you what to write.) So my advice would be, and is, if you're not very good, but you'd like to be, then take five years, learn your craft, do some writing, and if you're still not good, go do something else. You'll live a lot happier life that way. Writing is too hard to do if you aren't enjoying it and getting better.”
As you can see from this virtual interview, anyone can become a professional writer if they aspire to be one. As long as you have the will and motivation to write, your dream of becoming a published writer may just come true.
Sources: http://www.chrismoore.com/on_writing.html
That was a really interesting interview you had with Chris Moore. He seems like a pretty cool guy with a lot of knowledge about writing. His answers to your questions where very convincing and straight forward making it easy to related to the subject.
ReplyDeleteI agree with jjcontre. I think it was a very interesting blog and an interesting conversation. I was surprised that you actually went out and did an interview with a real person instead of look up something online. I think you asked great questions and received very accurate answers.
ReplyDeleteGreat Interview!! Your questions were interesting and the answers were equally as intriguing. The only thing we still need to work on as a group is including a YouTube video. Let's strive to do that next week. Great Job!
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