Creative writing – it’s easy to get published

It’s easy to get published. There. I’ve said it. There are zillions of new writing anthologies out there. Writers’ workshops. Literary magazines. Night classes. University courses.

‘Published writer’ doesn’t mean a whole lot, to be brutally honest. Not nowadays.

And if you can’t get traditionally published, you can do it yourself. Some indie authors are doing extremely well. Many mid-list authors are getting new life (and income) from their out-of-print books.

In this brave new world of publishing, publishers and writers are learning together. The blurred boundaries are exciting. New opportunities are opening up.

But now that everyone can publish a book, the goalposts have moved:

Getting published isn’t the problem. Getting good is the problem.

Publication isn’t special any more. What’s special is good writing.

Craft skills. Grasp of structure, story, tension. Voice. Dramatic irony. How to create emotional impact. Wrangle point of view, pace, rhythm. Control your effects. Hooks. Reversals. Rising action. Status play. Ideas. Imagination. Intensity.

Editing. Being your own toughest editor. Because that’s how writing gets good.

(And I’m not claiming moral high ground here. Shitty First Drafts are my specialty.)

For the natural writing geniuses out there: Lucky you! I’m in awe.

The rest of us need to work at it. And here’s my shameful secret:

I learned most of my writing techniques after my first produced scripts, first published stories and articles. After winning awards and recognition.

Through study, slog, and learning on the job.

Better writing training early on would have saved me years of grind, blind alleys and isolation while I tried to figure things out.

That’s why I set up this site. To share techniques I sorely needed when starting out. So you can learn to writer better, faster.