7 answers
Daliana
Student
Clermont, Florida
1
Question
Updated
375 views
What are good resources for an aspiring writer to get their start?
Hi there! I am a college-bound senior who is planning to major in English. I am hoping to have a career in creative writing, whether it be screenwriting, poetry, short stories, or more. Does anyone know of good resources for someone trying to start out in the field of writing? I have tried to find online scholarships and competitions, as well as publishing online for poetry, but I am having trouble figuring out what is legit or will actually help me in my career.
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7 answers
Madeleine Graham
Freelance
25
Answers
Flint, Michigan
Updated
Madeleine’s Answer
I've been a freelance writer since 1988. I'm not rich, but I'm happy. I suggest you think about adding to your income by teaching. I work as a substitute teacher, and although it doesn't pay much, it brings me joy.
Now, let's talk about writing. You mentioned an interest in poetry, and I share that passion. While I haven't published a book of poetry, I have collaborated with artists to blend my poems with their art. I've worked on digital pieces about Tiananmen Square, a charcoal drawing of Muhammad Ali and his views on Vietnam, and a painting about Ukraine—all featuring my poems.
I've also shared poems on my blog. I encourage you to start a blog, like on www.blogspot.com. Poetry is personal, and you'll find your own audience.
Most of my writing is in journalism. Check out your local news options, whether online or in print. Be persistent. I wrote one technical manual, but it wasn't for me, though technical writing can be lucrative.
You mentioned creative writing, which I loved in college. You might enjoy it too. Building an audience and staying creative are key. I hope my experiences inspire you to find your own path. Best wishes, and keep writing!
Now, let's talk about writing. You mentioned an interest in poetry, and I share that passion. While I haven't published a book of poetry, I have collaborated with artists to blend my poems with their art. I've worked on digital pieces about Tiananmen Square, a charcoal drawing of Muhammad Ali and his views on Vietnam, and a painting about Ukraine—all featuring my poems.
I've also shared poems on my blog. I encourage you to start a blog, like on www.blogspot.com. Poetry is personal, and you'll find your own audience.
Most of my writing is in journalism. Check out your local news options, whether online or in print. Be persistent. I wrote one technical manual, but it wasn't for me, though technical writing can be lucrative.
You mentioned creative writing, which I loved in college. You might enjoy it too. Building an audience and staying creative are key. I hope my experiences inspire you to find your own path. Best wishes, and keep writing!
Maria Alexander
UX Content Designer
8
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Maria’s Answer
Hi Daliana!
I'm a multiple award-winning author and produced screenwriter with over 20 years of experience writing and publishing. I've also mentored a number of teens. I'm not going to lie to you or sugarcoat the truth. Having a "career" as a creative writer of any kind is nearly impossible, especially with goals as disparate as yours. I know numerous TV writers, show runners, super successful novelists, and critically acclaimed poets. Even the most successful novelists have day jobs, some as teachers in high school or college. Half the TV writers are chronically poor because landing TV staff writer gigs is extremely difficult but that's the life they want.
Let's say the screen is your passion. Everyone I know who has had a long career in TV or film has gone through film school and lived here in Los Angeles, taking gigs in the industry that are nothing close to their dreams as they hustle to get where they want. It's all about meeting people, making a good impression, and being a knockout writer. There are numerous writing programs you can compete to enter:
https://www.warner-access.com/programs/warner-bros-discovery-access-writers-program
There are more. Google is your friend.
But here's the thing. If you love writing and you're open to anything, you're going to find a wide variety of jobs out there that use your skills and pay your rent while you do what you love on the side. Being a writer isn't an easy life. Relationships and family take a back seat to writing always if it's your passion. It's extremely unlikely that you'll make a living at it, but it might still be a very important part of your life. And I'm a testament to the fact that it can change your life for the better. The writing communities you join (oh yeah -- join writing communities!) and the experiences you have will feed your soul if not pay your rent. Your creativity is a gift that the world rarely rewards. Use it to feed your soul and others.
Good luck.
Maria
I'm a multiple award-winning author and produced screenwriter with over 20 years of experience writing and publishing. I've also mentored a number of teens. I'm not going to lie to you or sugarcoat the truth. Having a "career" as a creative writer of any kind is nearly impossible, especially with goals as disparate as yours. I know numerous TV writers, show runners, super successful novelists, and critically acclaimed poets. Even the most successful novelists have day jobs, some as teachers in high school or college. Half the TV writers are chronically poor because landing TV staff writer gigs is extremely difficult but that's the life they want.
Let's say the screen is your passion. Everyone I know who has had a long career in TV or film has gone through film school and lived here in Los Angeles, taking gigs in the industry that are nothing close to their dreams as they hustle to get where they want. It's all about meeting people, making a good impression, and being a knockout writer. There are numerous writing programs you can compete to enter:
https://www.warner-access.com/programs/warner-bros-discovery-access-writers-program
There are more. Google is your friend.
But here's the thing. If you love writing and you're open to anything, you're going to find a wide variety of jobs out there that use your skills and pay your rent while you do what you love on the side. Being a writer isn't an easy life. Relationships and family take a back seat to writing always if it's your passion. It's extremely unlikely that you'll make a living at it, but it might still be a very important part of your life. And I'm a testament to the fact that it can change your life for the better. The writing communities you join (oh yeah -- join writing communities!) and the experiences you have will feed your soul if not pay your rent. Your creativity is a gift that the world rarely rewards. Use it to feed your soul and others.
Good luck.
Maria
Aliza Khan
Writing, copy writing
2
Answers
Attock, Punjab, Pakistan
Updated
Aliza’s Answer
Hey 😊 this is honestly a really nice goal to have.
If you’re just starting, don’t overthink it too much. Focus on writing regularly and slowly putting your work out there.
You can post your stuff on platforms like Wattpad or Medium—it helps you build confidence and get real readers. For learning, just watch simple writing videos on YouTube, they help more than you’d expect.
For legit opportunities, check Poets & Writers and YoungArts—they share real contests and not scammy stuff.
And one honest tip: read a lot and don’t be scared of feedback. Even small improvements matter.
You don’t need everything figured out right now—just start writing, that’s the main thing ❤️
If you’re just starting, don’t overthink it too much. Focus on writing regularly and slowly putting your work out there.
You can post your stuff on platforms like Wattpad or Medium—it helps you build confidence and get real readers. For learning, just watch simple writing videos on YouTube, they help more than you’d expect.
For legit opportunities, check Poets & Writers and YoungArts—they share real contests and not scammy stuff.
And one honest tip: read a lot and don’t be scared of feedback. Even small improvements matter.
You don’t need everything figured out right now—just start writing, that’s the main thing ❤️
Savannah Alcover-Montefalcon
Creative Director/Animator
2
Answers
Anaheim, California
Updated
Savannah’s Answer
Hey, Daliana! Love this question, it shows you care about your craft and the quality of skills you bring to your team. Where there are many examples of good writing that authors and generalists like you can use as resourcing, I would recommend learning the technical aspects in writing. I see you like to exercise both prose and screenplay in general. That's an amazing strength I want you to keep building, it's much more valuable than many realize. Usually telling others to pick a niche can work only if you're focusing on keeping your content sorted for easy consumption. You are not here to be digestible alone, you are here to be undeniable.
To tackle your immediate search for legitimate poetry publications and student competitions, your best bet is to set up a Submittable account and browse the vetted calls for submissions on NewPages. Those are the industry standards for filtering out scams. As you apply to those, I highly recommend jumping into indie creative spaces to get hands-on experience and build your portfolio right now. Even though they sound specialized, places like Casting Call Club and Voice Actor Club are incredible hubs where writers at all stages of their career collaborate on live indie projects.
Once you connect with these indie groups, if you feel confident enough with your storytelling, try to look into formatting and writing documents like Treatments, Pitch Decks, and Story Bibles. Strengthening step-by-step processing, logical analysis, and managing multiple lines of information makes you a pivotal part of your team. These can help bolster your team's strengths by knowing how to market your projects as profitable, efficient, and possible. These skills translate into providing look books, project proposals, and budget sheets required in finding funding. (Try the Awesome Fund for a micro grant of $1,000 or the Roy W. Dean Grant of $3,000-$3,500).
Meanwhile, if you are having difficulty with writing prose and storytelling, I would point toward encyclopedias, practicing explanations of sensations with emotions and textures, while studying real-world psychology through these subjects to start (Basic Psychology, Home and Family, Women's Studies, Religious Themes/Spiritual Studies). By combining real world science and studies of the psyche, you will see an amazing improvement in how you adapt your writing according to the project you're on. My best suggestions would be reviewing old journals and comparing them to psychology papers followed by your synopsis of that journal. I also recommend experiencing the spaces you plan to write about; whether it's feeling the textures, tasting flavors and savoring them, watching how weight and shape affect a person's movement, and testing your concepts in safe environments.
Down below I have a list of places you can look to for experience, resources, and networking. Hope this helps! Always open to chat if needed.
Casting Call Club is a great place to find unpaid, deferred, and paid projects. Joining and applications are free on the site.
Voice Actor Club isn't only for voice actors, it's for full creative teams that help to get projects done and advice chats. They also have special guests like Ryan Colt Levy (Voice Actor for Chainsaw Man) to answer questions.
Slate is a site best known for finding teams, find investors, and preemptively market a project.
Micro Grants: The Awesome Fund and the Pollination Project are great places to find help for funding, especially if you have a clear vision of your concepts and a clean plan.
Bigger Grants: The Roy W. Dean, Hopper Prize, and Filmmakers Without Boarders are great places to start for bigger funding. Most look for transformative media looking to make an impact on society.
To tackle your immediate search for legitimate poetry publications and student competitions, your best bet is to set up a Submittable account and browse the vetted calls for submissions on NewPages. Those are the industry standards for filtering out scams. As you apply to those, I highly recommend jumping into indie creative spaces to get hands-on experience and build your portfolio right now. Even though they sound specialized, places like Casting Call Club and Voice Actor Club are incredible hubs where writers at all stages of their career collaborate on live indie projects.
Once you connect with these indie groups, if you feel confident enough with your storytelling, try to look into formatting and writing documents like Treatments, Pitch Decks, and Story Bibles. Strengthening step-by-step processing, logical analysis, and managing multiple lines of information makes you a pivotal part of your team. These can help bolster your team's strengths by knowing how to market your projects as profitable, efficient, and possible. These skills translate into providing look books, project proposals, and budget sheets required in finding funding. (Try the Awesome Fund for a micro grant of $1,000 or the Roy W. Dean Grant of $3,000-$3,500).
Meanwhile, if you are having difficulty with writing prose and storytelling, I would point toward encyclopedias, practicing explanations of sensations with emotions and textures, while studying real-world psychology through these subjects to start (Basic Psychology, Home and Family, Women's Studies, Religious Themes/Spiritual Studies). By combining real world science and studies of the psyche, you will see an amazing improvement in how you adapt your writing according to the project you're on. My best suggestions would be reviewing old journals and comparing them to psychology papers followed by your synopsis of that journal. I also recommend experiencing the spaces you plan to write about; whether it's feeling the textures, tasting flavors and savoring them, watching how weight and shape affect a person's movement, and testing your concepts in safe environments.
Down below I have a list of places you can look to for experience, resources, and networking. Hope this helps! Always open to chat if needed.
Savannah recommends the following next steps:
Nat Christian
Writer-Director
13
Answers
Los Angeles, California
Updated
Nat’s Answer
“Why” & “How”
Why are you hoping to have a career in creative writing?
How to go about it?
You need to write?
You’d like to make money writing rather then doing something else?
I’m simply going to assume…
You love writing and you want to have a career doing what you love.
Write. It may have been Hemingway or Steinbeck (can’t remember).
Write a little everyday and in a year you indeed are a writer much like lifting weights….. Something like that.
But I agree. Write. Who cares about career if you don’t have anything on the proverbial paper?
Poetry? Write
Screenplays? Write
If I came to you and say that I paint portraits - Give me money. You’ll ask to see some of my work
Not trying to be a wise guy. Just write and rewrite (writing is rewriting). You’ll love your first draft, but really after a while you’ll think it sucks, so rewrite.
After you’ve got some good stuff down…. THEN start looking for a career. Just contact anyone and ask them to read your work. Sure in some case you need a lawyer or manager to submit for you (don’t want to get into that now).
Just write poetry and a screenplay and some short stories. Then think about who to contact.
Poetry/shorts - you can post them on Linkedin or other sites as well.
Obviously you’ve thought about school - writing classes?
You’ll get feed back.
Sounds like you may be on the right path anyway just by asking.
Good luck!
Why are you hoping to have a career in creative writing?
How to go about it?
You need to write?
You’d like to make money writing rather then doing something else?
I’m simply going to assume…
You love writing and you want to have a career doing what you love.
Write. It may have been Hemingway or Steinbeck (can’t remember).
Write a little everyday and in a year you indeed are a writer much like lifting weights….. Something like that.
But I agree. Write. Who cares about career if you don’t have anything on the proverbial paper?
Poetry? Write
Screenplays? Write
If I came to you and say that I paint portraits - Give me money. You’ll ask to see some of my work
Not trying to be a wise guy. Just write and rewrite (writing is rewriting). You’ll love your first draft, but really after a while you’ll think it sucks, so rewrite.
After you’ve got some good stuff down…. THEN start looking for a career. Just contact anyone and ask them to read your work. Sure in some case you need a lawyer or manager to submit for you (don’t want to get into that now).
Just write poetry and a screenplay and some short stories. Then think about who to contact.
Poetry/shorts - you can post them on Linkedin or other sites as well.
Obviously you’ve thought about school - writing classes?
You’ll get feed back.
Sounds like you may be on the right path anyway just by asking.
Good luck!
Tom Foster
Freelance Writer with a lot of life experience
75
Answers
Forest Grove, Oregon
Updated
Tom’s Answer
Make connections with others. It sounds simple, but it's not. Do what you can to showcase your talent to others through any means possible, be it writing, editing, proofreading, whatever. Make it known that this is your chosen profession and make people understand what you can do. Writing is a great career if you can make it work, but it can be grueling if you don't make the right connections. Reach out to people and let them see what you're about and what you can do.
Lisa Hendrix Simmons
Writer
3
Answers
Cape Girardeau, Missouri
Updated
Lisa Hendrix’s Answer
I have always found that volunteering to write helps me get my name and my writing known. Yes, you do not make money at it right away, but the point is getting to write, creating an audience and that can lead to writing jobs. I have written for my local newspapers, I was asked to write a monthly column for another newspaper, I went online to a website I liked to read and found out they were looking for writers. I submitted samples of my work and they accepted me as a writer of a column there. Now, these are not paying gigs, but my writing for one of the newspapers did lead to a job as a stringer, or news reporter that works by articles. These have all given me great experience and gotten my name known. I even wrote a letter to an editor of a magazine one time that got me a paying job to write five separate articles for their magazine. So I would say just start writing, look for places you want to write for and volunteer your writing. It gets you known!