Read Lovely Books
At the end of the day, you admire them and they’ve earned their stripes
Scratch the little — they have CVs that cram twenty years’ of achievements into two
Somehow, while you were still scratching your head about whether to take this writing business seriously, they’
And it seems like they live entirely off fellowships and grants
And yet somehow — through black magic, bribery or both — those writers have become literary sensations
And if they do have stellar publication histories and fellowships and the like, they obviously deserve it
I don’t have to like what they’ve written — they don’t need my approval
The path to literary fame is a lot more democratic than it used to be
You can start on your own by sharing your stories online, even if it’s on a
People with certain backgrounds are likelier to make it as writers than others
For one thing, most of today’s successful literary fiction writers have literature or writing degrees
Does a degree automatically make one a better writer? Not necessarily
At the same time, the usual rules about jealousy being an unproductive green-eyed monster apply
So how does an ambitious-but-less-advantaged writer move on from their jealousy of the up-and-coming scribes who seemingly
Other people being successful does not mean you have a lower shot at making it
The world is always open to more fiction, as long as it’s good, and that good
And yet the number of literature students with writing dreams who go on to make waves is
But even at those programmes, not every graduate does equally well
Some produce a series of semi-successful books that occasionally get long-listed for awards
Only a very few really make it to the top — major awards, prestigious teaching appointments, national grants
If you’re reading this, I’m assuming you want a more enduring career, one that translates
You still need to write excellently — which you can do even without the residences
Within you may lurk enough talent for the world to someday hail you as the next F
Just like the original F Scott Fitzgerald earned his own repute in his time
Maybe they had better connections, maybe they were in the right place at the right time, maybe
Those publishers and prize committees can’t all be dumb, right? Those writers evidently have merit, even
So you might as well move on from agonising over why they won and not you, and
As if not feeling entitled and having to accept their merit was hard enough, right? Hear me
The point is to see what goes into making a story fail — which is, if you think
When it comes to writing, I have neither education nor connections nor work experience
No one in my family or friend circle has anything to do with the literary world, and
At the same time, I know there is absolutely no rule that says I can’t make
Several of the people I met at B-school and my first workplace, for instance, would make highly