Novels Not Required

The local middle school holds a career day for its students every spring.  Because some of the kids come year after year, I tried to come up with a new viewpoint for each presentation.  Most recently I focused on writers who are making a good living but whose names are not in the public spotlight.  It turns out, that was a good move.  Only one student mentioned J K Rowling.  In earlier years, she was the role model for at least ten of them. (Oh how fleeting is fame.)

I put six names on the board – three men and three women.  In addition to one novelist (Cressida Cowell), I included a screenplay writer, the head writer of a video game, a lyricist, a comic book writer, and the writer of a famous ad campaign.  I talked about all the ways a person can make a career out of the written word.  

The kids had not considered this.  In their minds, writers do one of two things: writers are journalists or writers are novelists.  

This same misconception is often a topic in my writing workshops.  Fledgling writers come to the seminars because they want to be famous novelists like James Patterson.  I remind them that “famous” and “income” don’t necessarily go together.  Cressida Cowell, the author of How to Train Your Dragon, is a perfect example.  Because of the movie, most people are familiar with her title but she is not famous - as demonstrated by the fact that not one student recognized her name.  I imagine, however, that she earns a good income.

Writers have lots of options and we can mix or match non-fiction, fiction, long or short as inspiration or our checkbooks dictate.  If you are paying the bills with your writing, you have already accomplished a great deal.  Most artists would love to be able to do that.  Just ask any actor who is waiting tables.

You may never be famous but you are a winner if you are able to work in your art full time.