Become an Accomplished Young Author
Do you want to get your book published at a young age? Are you an aspiring writer, even though you're still in middle school? Don't worry there are a lot of young authors! If you want to write a book now, even if you think you might be a bit young to do it, then we've got the article for you.
Contents
Steps
Writing Help
Doc:Writing Exercises,Freewrite About a Name,Common Grammar Mistakes
Becoming an Accomplished Young Author
- Think of why you want to be an author. Are you writing for fun? Maybe you're in it for the publicity and fame. Or perhaps you just want to earn an extra buck or two by publishing your book. Even if your intentions are not originally to write for fun, make it your goal to have fun while you write. If you aren't having fun, what makes you think your readers will?
- Try reading some books. Reading will help you see the work of published authors, how they write, and maybe get some inspiration. Try a different variation of books - fiction, biographies, poetry etc. write down all interesting words which you think will look impressive in your writing and find out the meaning of them.
- Make sure that you understand the "basics" of your plot. Even if you do not have the entire plot line figured out, you should be able to decide what kind of genre you're writing for, and who the characters are. You should also have at least the big idea about the problem that your main character will encounter. Make sure you write this information down-- it's very easy to lose your way while writing.
- Study about grammar and spelling. So, you may not be the best in making reports because of your grammar. That's completely okay. You can learn. Not the best speller? Grab a dictionary and look for some random words. It may not sound completely appealing at first, but if you want to become a published author, you have to know the difference between "your" and "you're".
- Write out the basic event line for your book. You don't have to include every single little detail, but it's a good idea to have an idea of what will be going on in each chapter. Try dividing your event line into sections, this will help you decide where to put chapter breaks and the like later on in your writing.
- Get inspiration. You can't write about nothing. An article on plastic cups and lint may be exciting to others, but most of us prefer an interesting topic over gibberish about that weird-looking hairball your neighbor's cat left on your front porch. Be interesting and creative, and think about any message you are trying to get across.
- Use good punctuation. Wrong punctuation is annoying. You see that post your classmate left on your wall on Facebook that looks like it was written by toddler? No one likes that.
- Don't worry about your age. Your age won't define how advanced you may be at writing. So what if you're just eleven years old? Or even ten? If you can write like you're a college grad, that's all that matters. There are so many young writers on the New York Times Best Seller List.
- Write a rough draft. This can be handwritten, or typed, depending on your preferences. Don't stop writing, whatever you do. Sometimes, the hardest part of the process is not giving up on a story. Remember; this is not going to take a day, or even a week. Writing your entire story down may take months on end. When you write something, do not reread it until the next step. For now, just get everything written down.
- Write descriptively. You want your readers to feel like they're in the scene themselves. Every chapter of your book should be like a chapter of their lives. If your writing isn't descriptive and well written then it doesn't particularly make yourself stand out from other people in your class.
- However, by all means, do not go overboard and make your writing flowery and fill it with purple prose. You want your readers to be able to feel like they're in the book, but too many details clog up the writing.
- Create good characters. They're the ones that make the book. You could base one on someone you know, or make a mash up of a few of your friends to make a completely unique person. Most importantly, make them likable. Who wants to read a book about someone they would find annoying if they were real? Would they care if they died or if something terrible happened to them?
- Try different kinds of genres. Want to be known as the rom-com writer? That's alright. But how about you try writing a thriller? Or even an adventure? Don't just stick to the stuff you know you're good at, try out something new and you might be even better at something else. The good thing about being a kid writer is that you can write about people your age and you'll relate to them better than Jacqueline Wilson ever will, so you have an advantage.
- Read your first draft over. Although you can decide to fix any spelling or grammatical errors, the purpose of this step is to decide whether it makes sense. Also, check for overused words. If you notice that you've used the same word or phrase, make a note to yourself, and head over to a thesaurus to find more "interesting" words that will appeal to your readers.
- Find somebody that you know who you are positive will give you their full opinion on what they think on your writing. This person will be a "beta reader" of sorts. Ask them to take notes on what they liked or didn't like, and how they would change it. They can also fix any errors you missed, although this wouldn't need to be required. Read each and every one of their notes when you are done, and take their ideas to heart. Even though you may love a certain part, chances are that your reader's won't.
- Type (or retype) your rough draft onto a word processor, including any revisions made, of course. Keep in mind that this will not be your final draft, as your editor may decide to change something else.
- Write up a copy to send to your editor. Make sure you use large margins, so that they can make notes. Also, make sure that you include the page number and your surname in the footer of each page, just in case a page gets separated from the rest.
- If you do not already have an editor in mind, do some research on editors that would read the work of a young adult. Make some sort of connection with them, and send in your manuscript if they show interest.
- Re-type your final draft with any corrections made by your editor.
- Find a publisher willing to read a younger author's work. A quick Google search can help you find publishers who have, in the past, published the work of child authors.
- Send in the final copy to the publisher of your choosing. Be sure to check if they will publish work by kids.
Tips
- Even if you get turned down never stop writing! If you really love it then the money and fame doesn't matter. Never give up!
- Think of any adjective or adverb as a seasoning. They will make or break your book if you use too many or too little.
- If you are working on your rough draft, and realize that it's not the joy of writing that's pushing you on, it's the idea of the money you'll make when it's all over, put down your pencil immediately. Do not write unless you love writing, or your writing won't be worth the read.
- Try to tell your friends stories and see when they get bored.This can help you pace your stories so they aren't boring to a reader
- Be creative. Have fun with it.
- Don't overuse any specific word because that seems like you're lacking creativity.
- The thesaurus is your new best friend. Don't use it every word, but if you want to have a few fancy-sounding words in each sentence, this is where you turn. For example, turn, "Mary said that John was a clumsy fool." into, "Mary murmured that John was an inept fool,' Microsoft Word has one built in. Just right click on the word and select 'synonyms'.
- You don't have to use words like screamed, whispered, growled, laughed, or asked to show someone talking. Just showing the character doing an action alerts readers that they were the ones speaking.
- Don't take criticism too hard. If your editor wants you to change something, you should change it, because they know best. It's far better to be criticized by an editor than to be rejected time after time.
- Write because you like to write.
- Double space the copy you send to an editor so they can make notes without having to mark it up quite as much, causing confusion.
- If you really want to publish, you could use a self publishing company to make it easier so you'll have a less chance of being rejected. Keep in mind that it might not get as much publicity.
- Think of your beta as your pre-editor.
- You can use pictures to help you develop your writing.
- Read, reading other works by other authors can help you develop your style of writing.
- Have fun and don't give up.
- If you know someone who is a teacher or writer, get them to look over your work.
- Try to post your work on a website to post stories to the public, so you can get more feedback and tips on how to improve your book.
- Look out of your window to get some inspiration or look at something from your history, and don't stop believing. Have faith in yourself.
- Write in a place you feel comfortable. If you're distracted or nervous you won't be able to focus on the story.
- Read other books for inspiration.
- Show your draft to a handful of people that you know, like different friends or family. This will help because some people might give different feedback than others.
Warnings
- If you're doing this for fame or wealth you may want to consider another career path. Authors only become famous if their books are a hit, which doesn't happen to most writers.
- Don't get your hopes up too high, editors and publishers read thousands of books from authors who want to hit it big, and a lot of books get rejected.
Things You'll Need
- Writing skills
- An editor
- A computer or typewriter
- A printer if you're using the computer
- Paper if you need to write
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