How To Become An Author

Hello again, blog reader. Welcome back!

In this post, I'm going to discuss what it means to me to be an author, and the difference between noble writers and the ever-elusive author mantle.

For many, the answer to becoming an author is simple: write.

Yes, you should be writing. Nobody ever became an author without first writing things down. Spinning those idle flights of fancy and sudden inspirations into words on a page takes effort and skill, and simply put, it is the whole point of the endeavour.

I find breaking it down into an easy-to-remember cycle helps no end:

Practice - The more writing you do, the better at it you will become

Understand - the more you research your story components, the better you will become

Repeat - the more often you write, the better you will become

Replicate - the more you read, the better you will become 

But even for those actually putting those elusive words on the page, it's not that simple now, is it? Anyone can be a writer; some are great at what they do, others, not so much.

I've always had an idea in my mind of what an Author should be, because understanding this helps clarify the criteria that would truly define someone as an author, not just a writer.

Having at least one piece of your work published and available for public consumption, ideally for sale rather than free on a blog or other medium, is a key milestone that can motivate you to continue growing as an author.

Being a serial loner and generally antisocial, this is the part I find most challenging: getting work out into the world, because it pushes you to reflect on your progress and motivates you to keep going.

Having some success, even if limited, is a crucial marker that your work has been read, purchased, or enjoyed by others, signifying real progress and encouraging you to keep moving forward as an author.

It's this final step which really makes the difference for me. A lot of people believe that being self-published on Amazon makes them an author simply because they have managed to string together a hundred or so pages of text.

I have to stress that I have no problem with people doing this. Everybody should be proud to show the effort they have put into a piece of work and to put it out into the wider world. I just don't think that they qualify as authors.

So far, I still consider myself only a writer. Between this blog, a technological thriller about to be self-published on Amazon, my debut novel (currently undergoing a massive reconstruction), and a folder with several others to start once this one is complete (in varying stages from thoroughly planned to a fundamental rough idea). If you are interested, you can check them all out on my timeline page.

I call myself a writer happily. It gives me a lot of pleasure to put my thoughts down in text, and even more to think someone else may be getting a little enjoyment out of it, too. I want nothing more than to spend all day writing.

But one day, I would like to be an Author.