Hacker News Reader

Comment by pastor_bob | Hacker News Reader

Unless you're planning to get an MFA, people should first try to write a novel before worrying about being a novelist.

The experience of actually writing is much different than thinking up a story in your head.

I often tell people that wonder about writing a novel the same thing: just try. Not to be a prick, but people simultaneously think it's way easier than it is and think it's way harder than it is. Most of the time is spent just getting through 2 hours-ish of writing a day, or 2-4 pages a day. Then rewriting a lot after the first draft. Most good readers aren't used to the rhythm of writing fiction, which is usually slower, and is far more about the accretion of detail rather than flying from plot point to plot point with seamless ease while you're reading. Making sure a novel is good is, almost always, very time demanding and requires its own set of skills (many mental). All that effort and time spent working alone is hidden from the reader breezing through a 350pg novel.

I think so many different things are like this. I want to make a video game, or I want to make a movie, or I want to put out an album of music. The enemy of all these ambitions is attrition—you give up before you finish.

Yeah. "I was going to be a novelist, but..." doesn't really track. It's an investment of years and (at least) hundreds of thousands of words just to figure out if you're theoretically capable of writing a novel people might want to read, to say nothing of actually doing it and then making a career of it.

It also speaks of misplaced priorities. Writing has to be its own reward from the beginning, or you won't get far with it.

Reply on news.ycombinator.com