Goodreads asked Larry J. Dunlap:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Larry J. Dunlap You can't just aspire to being a writer, you have to be one, even a bad one, if that's the necessary first step. Writer's write. If you're not writing, you're not a writer. Being a writer isn't always about putting words on paper, however. The best thing you can do as a new writer is to take a moment to design what you're writing. If it's a short story, work out who's who in the story and how they will change. If it's long form, like a novel, consider a summary of the beginning and ending chapters, and then try to outline what will happen in between by naming or numbering chapters. This will free you up to concentrate on the writing and not worrying so much about whether your characters are off the reservation. Consider yourself the director of your movie, know your script, and keep your actors in line. The thing about it, is that you can end up wasting a lot of time or even failing. Not good for a beginning writer.

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