Writing Fiction - 1

I want to tell you a story…

Once upon a time, in a cold garret at the top of an old house in a quiet street in a grim town, there lived an unknown writer. He didn't mind being unknown because he knew he was a great writer, even if no one else knew yet, nor would know for many years to come, most likely some decades after his death. His death would most likely be the eventual result of starvation, neglect and some lingering romantic wasting disease or other; such was the lot of the great writer.

In your dreams.

Actually, to me that sounds more like a nightmare, but it's still some people's idea of what it takes to be a fiction writer. And it's both right and wrong. Certainly, if you want to spend your days alone in a cold loft that's up to you. You might even produce that great work of fiction that every century seems to demand.

Then again, you might do so whilst relaxing in a comfortable chair in a warm study, or in snatched moments in a library café, or on frequent Transatlantic flights between meetings for that matter. I'd just rather do it in comfort, thanks.

So, you can be a writer too. Almost regardless of your circumstances, if you can find the time and something to write with, and if you have stories to tell or something to say, you can be a fiction writer. Hundreds of thousands of people are and most of them are as unknown as our 'hero' above, and destined (like him, probably) to stay that way. A good number are quite sanguine about that, but maybe you're not, or won't always be...

So, before long you'll be wondering how to get published. We'll assume, for the sake of argument that you can write sufficiently well… But hold on, what have you written? What are you writing now?

More pertinent, what are you reading, and what have you read?

Roy