Goodreads asked Douglas Seacat:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Douglas Seacat Barring accidental success, writing must be an obsession if you're going to make any progress. You have to be willing to endure not being great at it for a while and being motivated by something other than selling your work or getting praise. That said, writing is something anyone can attempt, and with diligence a writer nearly always gets better with practice, if you invest the effort to learn. The more you write, the better you will get, especially if you listen to feedback and thoughtfully revise. Revision after feedback is the most important, painful, and easily overlooked part of writing. Because of this, aspiring writers need to learn not to get paralyzed by fears over the quality of the first draft. Get the ideas down first, then improve them later.

flag