How To Become An Author
Is there a secret to creativity?
Is there some magic potion you drink in order to become an author?
Do you pop pills?
Should you drink a great deal of liquor?
Is it necessary to dress all in black and become depressed, in order to access your Inner Author?
Should you wait to write until you feel the Muse is looking over your shoulder?
Or is the way to literary accomplishment to drink a great deal of coffee and tap on your keyboard all night at a local café?
We don’t recommend any peculiar or particular ritual of these sorts. Neither do most successful authors.
In fact most authors recommend you not get involved with alcohol or drugs. Very expensive. Nor does it truly matter what color you wear. And coffee may not agree with your digestive system.
Stephen King, who needs no introduction, says, “If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot.”
That’s a great deal less dramatic than wearing black. Or seeking a Muse. Or even worse, waiting around for one to fall out of the sky. Simply reading a lot is a great deal more edifying.
You can learn a great many things by reading a lot. And you can make a whole bunch of readers very happy by writing a lot. In fact, you can use what you learn by reading in your writing, and your readers will enjoy learning those things, too.
Neil Gaiman is a notable, bestselling author, winner of many writing awards, includingthe distinction of being the first author to win both the Newbery and Carnegie medals for the same young adult fantasy novel, The Graveyard Book.
This is what Gaiman has to say about becoming an author:
“This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It’s that easy, and that hard.”
So don’t worry about changing your wardrobe, your sleeping schedule, or your beverage. You have some writing to do. That’s how you become an author.
