Anyone hoping to become a writer will no doubt be on the lookout for classes, courses or even the odd article in a magazine offering advice on how to make it in such a competitive field.
There's nothing wrong with that. I took creative writing alongside English literature for my degree choice and I do believe it's helped me a great deal. The problem is, as I discovered while on the course, (and many writing articles and magazines) is that there is a lot of conflicting advice out there.
One writer might say 'get an agent', another might say 'you don't need an agent, go straight to a publisher' or indeed another might say 'you don't need anyone, you can self-publish'. I've heard all of these examples and the contradicting advise doesn't just come with fiction.
Journalism, script writing, poetry - while there is a popular route for people to follow, there is always someone who says they've done it differently. For example, in one lecture there was a journalist who started working for a newspaper then drifted into freelance writing, in another lecture we met a journalist who did the opposite. So what's going?
The thing is because writing isn't like a normal job, everyone is going to have a different response in how to break into the industry. What works for some might not work for others. There is no one way to go about it, you need to find a way yourself and that's the trickiest part as it's all trial and error. The conflicting advise you may come across isn't bad but it should be taken with a pinch of salt. Assess the different the routes and find one you're feel comfortable in taking.
