/lit/ - Literature

>>21052653
Not realistic at all. You have a way better chance of making a living off of scratch offs

>>21052653
Anything is realistic if you apply yourself, people have made a living off of writing before so obviously it's possible for you to do it.

It's realistic. You need to determine who you are market is, though, and cater to that in order to develop a legitimate audience that is invested in your works. Otherwise, it's as easy as drowning in the ocean as it is drowning in the sea of voices of fiction writers. Check out Stephen King's book On Writing for some practical advice and a window into the world of someone who takes writing seriously.

Oh, and also

>>21052670
Don't listen to fools like this. This commentary is nothing more than noise.

Follow the music. It should already be in your heart.

>>21052686
>it is realistic to make a living being a novelist, short story writer, or playwright

Kek

>>21052653
It's hard but not impossible

>>21052653
Anything is realistic if you apply yourself, people have made a living off of writing before so obviously it's possible for you to do it.

>>21052693
>Has never been inside a bookstore with writers even only mildly popular selling well enough to make a good living

Just because it's not possible for you doesn't mean it's not possible for others

>>21052686
>>21052697
>>21053182
Blessed posts. There is surely a way to succeed if you try, persist, and learn from your experiences. The doomers on /lit/ are wrong, and gay!

Write a screenplay...rewrite it. Rewrite it again. Think about it. Write a few more. Start flogging them around. Get an agent to read your scripts.

William Morris Agency.

>>21052705
Yeah top writers on RR get mad money. Very tempting to try it myself but I know I'm not nearly consistent enough to build a paypig audience.

>>21052653
only the claw knows

>>21054444
checked

Andy Weir is living proof that it's possible.

>>21052653
if you have to ask you are never going to be a fiction writer anyway, the fact that you are asking the question shows a highschool freshman level of naivety

>>21052653
Neither. You should not think about money. You write, and what happens happens. The value of a book is completely untied from the earnings it provides to the author, after all.

>>21052653
no, its a prestige position unless youre so talented you already know you are

>>21052653
No, it's not realistic whatsoever. Very few writers sell more than a hundred copies nowadays, and that's if you're on a major publisher. Your only real hope would be to catch the eye of some Netflix/Amazon guy and get an adaption, which isn't going to happen realistically speaking.

>>21052653
If Stephen King can make money writing, you can.

you do it as a hobby, and if your work gets recognition, then you can move towards writing as a career

It is possible, but it's not a solid plan. A better plan would be to have a day job while you write on the side. That's what Cormac McCarthy did until he reached a point where he was organizing his day job around his writing and eventually only writing. It's a transitional sort of thing. You start by having a day job that's not subordinated to writing while you write on the side, if you have some success then maybe you have a day job that is subordinated to writing such that you have the time and energy or focus or whatever to write well, and if you continue to have success then you just write and maybe work for some money on the side, and then if you can continue to have success you just write. This is the most pragmatic way of going about it.

I've always wanted to write for a living, but I never had the courage to think I could make it happen. I'll pass through my 20s having not published anything. My advice to you is that if you know this is something you want to do and will want to do, just do it. Organize your entire life around writing and just give it your best shot.

>>21058482
What was McCarthy's day job?