A few years ago I stumbled across a series of lectures that massively-successful sci-fi-fantasy author Brandon Sanderson gave at BYU about writing. They were interesting in an academic sense, but the thing that really stuck with me was the fact that writers who really wanted to be writers were more successful at it than most people believed. A lot of people think that your odds are worse than one in a million… it’s akin to winning the lottery. And while I think that’s true for really successful writers (your Stephen Kings or your John Scalzis), what Sanderson says is that your chances of making a living from your writing is closer to 1 in 20. Which, honestly? Pretty dang good.
The catch of course is that it takes about a decade. But that’s okay! I really want to be a writer, I don’t really want to do anything else with my time, so I’m okay with taking the long, slow grind to making a living from my art.
As an aside, can you imagine another career telling you that you wouldn’t be capable of making a living wage for at least a decade, and even then odds of you succeeding was about 5%? Like, if bankers were told that they’d make no money for a decade… yeah, anyway. Such is the life of an artist.
The whole reason I bring it up is that there are a brand new series of lectures that Sanderson produced (for this year, no less!), and I’ve been listening and watching them as I work on my painting. There’s some interesting stuff, no question, and it’s neat listening to somebody who has obviously spent a lot of time working on “the craft” say things about our shared work. I agree with a lot of what he says! I’ve learned a few things about how to write compelling characters (which I think I do pretty well already, but it never hurts to be better, or to be provided with tools that you may or may not need).
Anyway, I’m only 6 lectures in so far (so about halfway, I think?), but it’s been really interesting. We’ll see if I use any of the information in the future! But whether I do or not, I’m glad that Sanderson is making these so I can watch ‘em!
Hope everyone out there is staying safe and healthy!