Want to write but don't know where to begin?
The first question you need to ask yourself is why you want to write?
Do you want to be a professional writer? If this is your goal then its time for some hard truths. According to the job site Seek, the average writer salary in Australia is $80,000 - $100,000. Sounds good but the jobs they list are for copywriters, communication specialists and technical writers. They pay well but they are also guaranteed to kill your creative spirit.
If, on the other hand, you want to write something creative; a novel, a memoir, or short stories, then the pay scale is a little lower. According to the Australian Society of Authors, the standard rate for a free-lance writer is $1.08 per word. Novels earn royalties based on the number of books sold. While royalties are negotiated between the author and the publisher, generally traditional publishers pay anywhere from $1.00 to $1.80 per book sold. Therefore, the money the author receives is based on sales. In 2024, the highest selling book in Australia, Recipe Tin Eats: Tonight by Nagi Maehashi, sold 300,000 copies in 3 months. Liane Moriarty’s books, Here One Moment, Big Little Lies, and others sold over 3 million books world wide. Not a bad return but unfortunately most books don'tbecome best-sellers. 90% of self-published authors sell fewer than 100 books. Traditionally published books do better but few sell more than 5,000 copies. Even at $1.80 that’s not enough to encourage you to give up your day job.
But let’s say, that it isn’t money that motivates you to write. Maybe you have a great story, fictional or true or you want to write your family’s history or maybe you enjoy writing short stories or maybe you just want to see your name in print. Where do you start?
You could take a course. There are plenty of courses through universities and writing schools. The advantage of taking a course is that you will be given assignments and the best thing about assignments is that they force you to set a writing routine. When it comes to the craft of writing this is the most important lesson you can learn – how to set a routine and stick to it.
But will a writing course make you a good writer?
The simple answer is no.
It may make you a competent writer but following a set of rules won’t make you a good writer which is why AI will never produce a great novel or even a good one. Writing is not about following the rules. It’s about knowing when to break them.
So what does make a good writer? First and foremost, it’s reading. Reading well written books trains us to know what good writing sounds like. Find a book you enjoy reading and study it. Figure out what appeals to you. If you like a scene because it kept you on the edge of your seat, reread it carefully. Highlight the verbs. If you liked the image a paragraph created in your head, highlight the descriptive words. Notice how the writer varies their sentences by highlighting each one a different colour so you can see how some are long, others short. Note how the first sentence pulls you in, how the exposition paints a picture. If a book brings you to tears, see if you can map the plot points that led up to the scene that touched you. This is how we learn to write.
Even reading badly written books can teach you how to be a better writer. If you don’t like a book, figure out why. If it was boring, was it because of the writing style or was it because the story was poorly constructed? There’s a reason great stories slowly reveal both character and plot so imagine how you might tell the story in a more interesting way.
And remember to read writers with different styles. This is particularly important if you are new to writing. It takes time to find your own style. Reading only one author, no matter how good they are, will entice you to write in their voice. Your goal, however, is to find your own voice while learning from those who have mastered theirs.
So back to our question – how do you get started on the road to becoming a writer?
Get a routine.
Set a goal
Read with writer’s eyes
And start writing
Next we’ll talk about character, plot and setting