How can i become a good writer? And be published!!

BM

First, you need a market.
mangthomte - Welcome to A2K!

Who would your market be? That's the first question you have to ask yourself. You have to have a marketable product, but who are the customers? What genre do you have in mind?

To be a really successful writer you need an agent. There's a lot to being published besides putting words on paper. Yes, there are many sites on the Net to instruct you free of charge. Try some word combinations into one or more search engines, such as Google. Good luck! :-) -- Charli

Would ne one know bout ne sites that would help w/poetry or fantacy writing?

It's easier to fleece aspiring writers than to become a writer so most sites on teh subject are tantamount to a scam.

There's no magic formula.

The secret is:

Write well.
Write often.

Keep trying (to get an agent to read you).

The most important things to know is really just how to approach angents (e.g. don't send manuscripts unless they are expected etc etc).

How to write stories and poerty . . .

About 844 sites here. Highlight the line below and hit enter.

HOW TO WRITE STORIES AND POETRY

thanx

For starters, get a pronounceable name . . .

Did you read that new book by Manga . . . by Magna . . . by Mamaga . . . oh Hell, never mind . . .

Re: How can i become a good writer? And be published!!


What are you interested in publishing? You say short story writing. Does that mean a book of short stories, or short stories for various publications?
Fiction or non-fiction? If non fiction, what's the area of expertise?

I second the spirit of what Craven said. But since you write short stories, an alternative to agents might be that you find literary magazines that publish the kind of short short story you like to write, and submit short stories directly to them.

Nielsen Hayden, an editor, has good advice about the formalities of submitting manuscripts. He has especially good advice about what not to do to avoid being rejected, and how not to react when you are.

As for the craft of writing a text, the best online references I know are William Strunk: The Elements of Style and George Orwell: Politics and the English language. Orwell's text has nothing to do with short stories or even with fiction. Nevertheless, his general advice should serve your purposes well.

I would also suggest Stephen King's 'On Writing', which has a lot of good, inspirational advice on being a SUCCESSFUL writer, as opposed to just a writer.

The problem is, Stephen King is not a GOOD writer. ONLY a succesful one.

I hear he managed quite well to get published though, which was one half of mangthomte's question.

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Thanks so much for your responses. Special thanks goes to those of you who actually give links so it becomes very easy for me to explore and learn. Well, I must admit I haven't done much work till now!!

Well, I want to tell you, Thomas Leary, I am plannig to start out with short stories. What should be interesting topic that i can handle easily, and what are the techniques so that things don't look too amateurish.

Can anybody tell how you construct your first short story... kind of explaining how each para is being written. Of course you will know best!!!

Setanta, I am Mang and Thomte is my surename, okay. What's real name, eh?