I’ve got a long way to go: my experience as a writer so far.

It’s been a wild few months.

Around June this year, I decided to try my hand writing fiction. I had been writing my blog for the past few months, but an idea for a short story had been milling around in my head for quite some time. With my wife away for the weekend, I decided to put my head down and smash it out over the course of two and a half days. This resulted in a detective story that ran to about 10,000 words, which I’ve self-published on Amazon. I’ve also written two other stories since then.

The thing is, I thought I knew quite a bit about writing when I started out. As I’ve gone on, I’ve realised a few things:

1. I love writing fiction.

This might seem like it’s not a big deal, but I’ve been writing blogs and political analysis for years. I wish I’d given fiction a shot earlier.

2. Editing is a large part of the work.

It’s not enough to just write a great story. Refining it takes a lot of time and concentration. When you’ve written a story, it’s like a rough diamond; you gotta polish that thing for a long time to get it just right.

3. I’ve got a long way to go.

I’m learning to be more concise. I’m figuring out ways to tie my stories together better. I’m reading more books to expand my understanding of what makes a great story. All of these things highlight to me how little I know, and how far I’ve still got to go.

So that’s where I’m at. I’m currently 6,500 words into my final story in my detective series, and it’s looking like it’ll be the longest yet – but also the best. I’m loving this journey, even though I feel I’ve only taken my first few steps.

2 responses to “I’ve got a long way to go: my experience as a writer so far.”

  1. […] I wrote a short reflection on what I’ve learnt as a writer so far, and today I wanted to focus on the other side of my writing coin: Self Publishing. I won’t […]

  2. […] after a couple of years, I find myself sitting here feeling a little lost. As a result of my toils, I now have three […]

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