Goodreads asked Rick Boling:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Rick Boling If you hope to make a living as a freelance journalist, be sure to present yourself in the most professional way possible. Adhere to the rules in the Chicago Manual of Style, spend lots of time researching and fact checking, send out tons of queries, and get used to rejection.

For fiction writers, about the only advice I would have is to read as many novels and short stories as you can get your hands on; absorb as much as you can; observe carefully the people and settings wherever you go; make up character studies and descriptions based on your observations; and keep a personal journal. Eventually these things will begin to generate story ideas, which you should write down and expand until you have strong narratives. Once some of these narratives begin to gel into longer stories, begin developing plot lines and turning them into short stories or novels. Then rewrite, rewrite, rewrite, until you have exhausted every possible chance to improve what you have written. Finally, try to get as many friends as you can to read your work and comment on it critically.

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