Advice For Young Writers

Advice for young writers

I recently had the opportunity to visit a local school during their literacy week. I’m always happy to share my stories and I appreciate opportunities to talk to anyone who is interested in writing. As well as a reading to a class of students I arranged to spend an hour with kids who expressed a special interest in writing.

A teacher arranged to have the student from each class who demonstrated the most interest in writing join me for a one-hour workshop.

My first question to the group was “How many of you have written stories?”

This was met with two or three tentatively raised hands while the rest of the group looked down at their desks. My first reaction was that this was evidence that I indeed had a room full of writers.

People who write tend to be introverts. The business of writing is solitary work done alone in a quiet room. Most authors enjoy being away from others.

My next comment was that I felt sure that most of them did write but never told anyone and didn’t share their work. This brought an immediate response, most of the class nodded their heads. I think there was a sense of relief that someone understood them.

When I speak to young people who want to be writers, I have three pieces of advice. None of it is original. The first is to write. I doesn’t matter what you write, just write something. Don’t worry about whether anything you do is good. It’s just important to put something down on paper. If you continue to write, your work will improve.

The second piece of advice and the easiest for most young writers is that they should read. Writers are readers. I like Stephen King’s suggestion that you should read two kinds of books. Read good books to show you what you are aiming for and read bad books to show you that you don’t need to be brilliant to be published.

The third and most difficult suggestion is that writers should tell others that they write and show their work to people they trust. This is a piece of advice I was given by a talented author very early in my career. Before that time, I was hesitant to tell anyone that I was working on what became Creatures of the Rock. I worried that my writing was poor, and people would scoff at my efforts.

So why is it important to show others your writing?

I believe that what I’m trying to achieve with my writing is art. Art is about communicating. Writers, singers, and painters are all trying to tell others something with their work. It may be the beauty of the world or an explanation of how life works, but I think all art is about the sharing of feelings.

If this is true, books, paintings and songs that go into a dresser drawer and stay hidden are not art. For you to succeed in communicating, you must let others see your work. You must communicate.

This sharing of feelings can be tricky business. An artist (lets be bold and call anyone who writes an artist) can be hurt by negative reactions to their writing. Sharing of work must be done carefully. It is important to find a trusted confidante to show your efforts to.

Honest criticism is helpful but beware of people who are hurtful. If someone you have shown your writing to belittles you or your work, you know to never show that person anything else you have done.

As our time came to a close, I suggested that coming together for this short workshop might have unintended benefits. This was a room full of kids who understood each other’s passion for writing and just might be a good place to find sympathetic readers.