So, You Want to Be a Fiction Writer? Honestly, I’m glad to hear that you’re interested in becoming a fiction writer. However, I think there are a number of questions you should ask yourself before you settle on writing as a career. For example, have you consciously considered why it is that you want to be a writer? Is it because you enjoy showing off, maybe? Or is it just an arbitrary choice to avoid getting a real job? Or maybe you’ve dreamed of creating exquisite stories ever since you were an infant. Writing for a living is not an easy undertaking, and before you start, you should be sure that you are doing it for the right reasons. An important facet of being a writer is the ability to deal with the solitude. A professional writer must be ready to spend at least five hours a day alone, often in the lonely environment of a study, in front of the computer. Are you ready for this degree of isolation and confinement’? At the same time, remember that writing is a craft as well, requiring sustained intensity, precision, and extended periods of concentrated effort. No watertight plot was ever created by luck. Fine writing is created through painstaking effort. In addition to the solitude and the hard work, there is still the mysterious question of talent. How can a person know whether he or she has talent or not? Well, there is no foolproof way of detecting talent, but in my experience, people who have talent for writing fiction enjoy telling stories to people around them. They love to talk about the things they’ve done or read, and people like listening to them. It’s an exaggeration to say that all writers do this, but when I hear someone tell a good story that grabs me, I always think, “There goes a potential writer.” Now on to what I consider to be the heart of writing: inspiration and originality. Inspiration comes from inside, and in my opinion it grows out of having survived or overcome certain difficulties in life. People who have suffered seem to have more of a need to speak out. It has been said that happy people don’t make good writers. Although this is undoubtedly exaggerated, there is a grain of truth in it. Why would a completely happy and satisfied person take on the painful task of writing? Someone who wishes to do this in some way needs to do it. I believe this need is born of some kind of suffering. I cannot overstate the importance of originality in fiction writing. It is critical that you don’t let tired old ideas and phrases creep into your writing. Each work of fiction must present something truly new. A successful work is never simply created according to a dusty old diagram or according to a well-used pattern. From the first page, the reader should be greeted by a story like nothing anyone has seen before. Try to surprise your reader at every turn. Imagine making your reader say, “Wow! I never expected that to happen!” Well, if I haven’t been able to dissuade you from becoming a writer by now, it looks like you might have made up your mind to become one. Let me give you a few tips that might help you on your way to a successful writing career. First, remember that your first draft will never be perfect. It will always need work, and sometimes it will need a great deal of work. If the amount of revisions and corrections seems to be growing, don’t be afraid to throw the whole thing out and begin again. The value of that first draft was to start developing and organizing your ideas. Sometimes trying to repair a heavily flawed story is worse than starting again, and it can harm the unity of the story. Another technique I cannot stress enough is to write for a large audience. Make your best effort to be understood by the largest number of people you can. Remember that the most famous artists, writers, musicians, movie makers, etc., in history have been those that people of all types—rich, poor, young, old, well educated and not-so-well educated----have all been able to appreciate and enjoy. When you write, put yourself in the place of the reader. Try to write stories that you would like to read yourself. If you are writing a passage only because you have to or because you can’t think Of anything else, your reader is certainly not going to enjoy it. When you find yourself low on inspiration, take a break, and come back to finish writing after you’ve regained your inspiration and originality. It’s also important to remember that, as a writer, you are a kind of educator. Make sure that you are well-informed about the things you want to write about. Doing research has helped many writers to create more interesting and realistic stories. In conclusion, let me say that writing is different for every individual. I hope you will find the advice I’ve given above useful, but you will undoubtedly make new discoveries about what works best for you as you pursue your new career as a fiction writer! (1) Who did the author probably write this passage for? A. professional fiction writers B. people interested in starting a career in fiction writing C. high school English students D. teachers of fiction writing (2) According to the author, what is the source of inspiration? A. natural talent B. originality C. suffering D. training (3) Which piece of advice would the author give regarding originality? A. Don’t try to be original all the time. B. Don’t be afraid to use a plot pattern that someone has used before. C. Try to be as original as you can possibly be throughout. D. Try to copy a successful piece of fiction. (4) How can putting yourself in the place of the reader help your writing? A. You can write stories that come from your heart, B. You can make your work more original. C. You can check whether you enjoy what you’ve written. D. You can figure out how different readers think. (5) How does the author suggest a fiction writer can write more realistic stories? A. by doing more research before writing B. by spending more time on the writing process C. by only writing about past experiences D. by using language the reader can easily understand