Would I be a good writer?

Question

I'm looking into a lot of different professions because I'm not sure what I want to do. I wrote this short story:

http://abriannapeto.deviantart.com/art/Out-of-Body-Expeirience-84716189

I was thinking you could use it to decide if writing would be a good choice...

Oh and what do you think of the story?

(Btw I'm 15)

Answer 1

I think, although you do have a talent for stringing words together, that your writing is mildly forced into a mold, like you're trying to make it extremely  profound. The effect that that has on your writing is that it becomes rather confusing and convoluted.

Answer 2

Being a writer of fictional stories is difficult as a profession, even if you're good.

You're talking like it's gonna be "your job," the only one thing you do, and it's not realistic to hope for this.  For every J.K. Rowling, there are three dozen other successful writers who just haven't gained her popularity.  The mark of an EXTREMELY successful writer is one who fully sustains themselves by writing, no longer needing another source of income.

If it's what you want to do, go for it, but understand and be prepared that you'll be, at least at first, writing while working a traditional job.  And even after getting published, there's no guarantee people will read your book.  Books aren't advertised like movies, so even if you write a stellar book, it'll take a while for reviews to spread and people to hear about it(although this is changing in the era of the internet where everybody finds out about everything as it happens)

Not to say it's completely unprofitable.  For a first time author writing a full length novel, you can expect anywhere from 0-5 or 6 thousand dollars as a commission for the book.  After that you usually get around 10 cents for each copy of the book sold, and when(if!) they have to reprint it because they sold all the first run, that per book pay goes up a little.  So that's not BAD money, but it's not something you can live off of unless you're selling millions of books(even at a million books, at 10 cents a copy that's 10,000 dollars, over the course of years, which you get taxed on of course.  However a good book can sell millions of copies)

And of course if you're a slightly better known experienced author, you can expect more money up front.  If somebody decides to make a movie off of your book(but think of all the books ever written and note that all but a handful become movies)of course bam, you make millions of dollars selling them the rights, and you're done working for life.  So in summary: Unless you dig poverty, don't expect writing to be your full time job for a while

As for your writing, I really just skimmed the story, but I have a few comments.  First, avoid the obvious grammatical and spelling mistakes(which this very response may be full of, do what I say, not what I do!)like I saw you use here instead of hear, and other random misspellings and misuse.  But remember while writing that ANYBODY can edit their work until it's good proper English.  That shouldn't be your concern while writing, don't get sidetracked trying to decide if a metaphor sucks or not, come back to it later after you're done worrying about the less easily fixed things like your characters doing things out of character and deus ex machinas and all that.

Also, you seem to have fallen into the trap perpetuated by high school English teachers.  LESS IS MORE.  Writing a fictional story is nothing like writing a paper to appease English teachers.  Just for example(I'm not even sure you did this too much, but it's common...) remember when English teachers told you to be creative on dialog tags, don't say "he said" "she said" too much?  That's BS

For starters, keep the dialog tags to a minimum in the first place, if it's a conversation between two people, formatting it correctly should make it clear who's talking when, and if not, your skillful ability to make each character sound unique should!  When you do need them, "he/she said" will suffice like 95% of the time.  The goal in writing is to make sure the reader isn't constantly reminded they're reading something.  Things like "he exclaimed, she interjected, he gasped, etc." draw the reader's attention, which is exactly what you don't want to do.  The "...said" tags are acknowledged by the reader almost subconsciously, like articles.  Plus, if you're writing the dialog well, it should be obvious HOW the person's saying it.

And that's just one thing, of many.  Another common problem is overly detailed descriptions of things that don't really warrant it.  Unless its detailed description is vital to the plot or of considerable interest to the reader, don't describe it in detail!  The more you leave to the reader's imagination, the better.  Every sentence you write, ask yourself if you really need it.  If the answer is yes, ask yourself if it's c**p.  If it's your first cut at that sentence, assume that answer is yes.

You'll usually always want to write in the active voice, don't say "the ball was thrown by Jenny," say "Jenny threw the ball."  The subject does the action to the object, as opposed to the object having the action done to it by the subject!  They mean the same thing but one comes across "weak"

DON'T VIOLATE TENSE OR VOICE, I'd have to look harder to see if you did this, but everyone does on occasion.  You're writing third person, which is simple enough.  However, is it limited or omniscient?  Third person limited omniscient? (for example: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Third_perso...

Usually, and yours appears to be, modern fiction is written in third person limited omniscient, and there's a lot of subtlety that goes into writing this.  If you start in the limited style, make sure you stay there!  Limited meaning that the narrator doesn't know anything the character doesn't.  If you're in the viewpoint of a child interacting with their parents, the narrator will probably refer to them as mom and dad, but if you're in the viewpoint of the neighbors, they'll be Mr. and Mrs. Johnson.  Little things like that.

Answer 3

Hello! If you want to be a good writer,there's two important things you need. The first is you need to be good at spelling and Grammar.Many can write,but few do it well. The second is you need to be taught.Either by a teacher or through a writing school.I haven't read your story,but one story does not a writer make. I can tell you that thousands of people think they can write.Me included.Your 15,and I'm 72.I have been writing for a number of years.Have written two non-fiction books,.,and several stories.None of my books have been published,but there's always a first time.I write short stories mainly now. Have had  a few published. But there's not much money in it.Don't write if you think you'll make a lot of money,you won't.I have read your story.For a 15 year old its ok. But it isn't good.You have far too many small words,and you use the word "She" too much.That's what I mean about Grammar.To write you need to know how.

Answer 4

I think you have potential but where is the story line of why she was there in the first place.  I can tell you are a reader keep going remember a complete story maybe a mystery author.  Good for you keep going

Answer 5

You are really really great for 15 and describe like freakin AMAZING, but (just some constructive criticism here) maybe you want to try to keep the reader's attention more in the beginning? But yeah i think you could definately make it as a writer with some hard work and dedication!

Answer 6

ok, this is pretty good stuff. As a playwright who reads a lot of scripts I think you have a crisp trenchant style and don't use too many adjectives and adverbs - the downfall of many writers. Atmosphere is good. You need to avoid cliches though, including cliched topics - the dream or unconscious experience is tricky, because it can be very frustrating to the audience. The Greeks had the concept, the God in the Machine, which was the idea that a god would always come down in the end and solve the hero's problem. It's a cop out, the hero needs to solve the problem, Equally with films, it's always a downer when the hero wakes up from a dream and that solves his/her problem. You made a great start, but you should have stayed ahead of the readers and once you had them on the hook, surprise them with something - stay ahead of your readers always. So keep writing but work on bringing an original twist to your ending. Look what it did for Stephen King!

Answer 7

excellent