Geoff Burrell
*Don't do it!
*If you must do it, and you've got the brains and the cash, go and study for a good degree in creative writing. I don't know if this will improve your writing or not, but it will certainly give you a load of contacts that will help you throughout your chosen career. A course that links you up with publishers and agents is particularly useful as it's probably harder to get a book read by them than it is to write it in the first place.
*Find another job/career (depending on how comfortable you are with the whole starving in the attic thing) that will pay the bills and not interfere too much with your urge to write.
*Don't emulate me - try and write/publish more than one book every 30 years. It's hard to build a following when everybody thinks you're dead.
*If you haven't already got one, develop a sense of humour. You are going to need it when that first rejection slip arrives closely followed by the electricity bill!
*Write about what you know. If you don't know anything, consider a career in politics.
*Read Stephen King's book, 'On Writing'. Then read it again.
*Don't get paranoid. Nobody is actually going to steal your idea for a novel about the green slime people who live on the planet 'Splurgo' and communicate on their slimewriters.
*Listen/read/watch any writing advice from multimillionaire authors who live in city centre penthouse suites and sell in more countries than Proctor and Gamble. They actually know something about the business that is worth listening to. If you actually make friends with any of them give me a call.
*If you must do it, and you've got the brains and the cash, go and study for a good degree in creative writing. I don't know if this will improve your writing or not, but it will certainly give you a load of contacts that will help you throughout your chosen career. A course that links you up with publishers and agents is particularly useful as it's probably harder to get a book read by them than it is to write it in the first place.
*Find another job/career (depending on how comfortable you are with the whole starving in the attic thing) that will pay the bills and not interfere too much with your urge to write.
*Don't emulate me - try and write/publish more than one book every 30 years. It's hard to build a following when everybody thinks you're dead.
*If you haven't already got one, develop a sense of humour. You are going to need it when that first rejection slip arrives closely followed by the electricity bill!
*Write about what you know. If you don't know anything, consider a career in politics.
*Read Stephen King's book, 'On Writing'. Then read it again.
*Don't get paranoid. Nobody is actually going to steal your idea for a novel about the green slime people who live on the planet 'Splurgo' and communicate on their slimewriters.
*Listen/read/watch any writing advice from multimillionaire authors who live in city centre penthouse suites and sell in more countries than Proctor and Gamble. They actually know something about the business that is worth listening to. If you actually make friends with any of them give me a call.
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