Question:
I want to quit school and write? :S?
Well do ya?!
2009-05-10 06:55:28 UTC
I love writing and all I want to do is Finish my education at 16 and write professionally. As a novelist and a screenwriter. Is that bad? I'm only 14 now (going on 15). I'm an okay writer, hopefully I'll improve with age, but everybody tells me its a bad idea and I should do something more.....academic.

This might be the wrong section to put this is, but any advice?
Twenty answers:
?
2009-05-10 07:35:21 UTC
Quitting your education to write is never a good idea. You say yourself that you're an "okay" writer. You won't improve if you don't continue with your English classes. Honestly, every class will be important because the best ways to improve is to write...essays, reports, anything that keeps you writing.



And, as cruel as it sounds, you can't get your hopes up with your dreams of writing professionally. Very few people are successful at this. I read somewhere that there are over a million hopeful writers out there sending a manuscript in every day. Of those, maybe only five are accepted. That's not very good odds...especially if you don't at least have high school level skills if you plan to write teen or adult novels and screen plays.



Do you know how to structure a novel manuscript? What about a screenplay manuscript, which will be totally different from that of a novel? Just going in and slapping a bunch of words down won't cut it. You need to understand that you will have to have these skills because an editor will throw your hard work right into the trash if they aren't set up exactly as they need to be. You have to understand that, in screen writing, you have to go to the minutest detail...including small objects sitting on a table or the style and color of buttons on someone's jacket. It's very tedious and time consuming.



That's why many writers choose to finish their education. Many of us move into college and take writing courses and workshops to hone our skills. Of course, they aren't absolutely necessary, but they can often be the deciding factor in whether or not you can actually produce something worth selling.



And here is another fact about writing. It's NOT easy! People think that writing is just slapping a bunch of words on a page, and they think "Geez, I could write that!" But the fact is, it's not easy, and there are a lot fewer people who are actually great writers. Most are what I call "gobble-di-****". It's not worth the effort to run your eyes across the page. Writing is not just a talent. It's not worth anything unless you are willing to take the time to sit down and write everyday. Those people who say you don't have to may be right to an extent, but a real writer doesn't put their work away for weeks or months at a time and then bring it out and expect a great novel to finish itself. When they're not writing, they're proofreading and editing. They may even be exploring the world around them with works from other writers or with observation and critical thinking. You can't be lazy. This is the mistake most people who think they are writers, or dream of writing, make. They think that writing is all about churning out a great story, and not having to survive in the meantime. The truth is, even if you are published, it could take years to become a success. With no education, how will you survive in the meantime? I can guarantee, if you aren't making an effort to do something fruitful with your life, your folks aren't going to tolerate your sponging off them forever. And your friends and family won't help out if you can't make the rent!



Do you really want to be 45, looking back on your life, struggling at a "go nowhere" job while waiting for your big break? I can guarantee, you'll be lucky, in this economy, to be flipping burgers or slopping hash if you don't have at least a high school diploma. Heck, college grads are being forced to work as underpaid slaves right now! What will a "I dropped out of high school because I plan to write" get you?



You need a back up plan. You need a job to support you while you're receiving rejections, until your work sells (if it ever does). How do you expect to get that, and how to you expect to publish a novel or have a screenplay picked up, if you don't even have the perserverance to finish high school? Look up the bios of some of your favorite authors or screenwriters. I can guarantee you that not one of them doesn't have a story of what they did to support themselves while trying to be published. Finishing school takes persistence. Writing takes more. If you can't find the willpower to finish school, you'll use that first moment of writer's block or the first rejection or the first obstacle you hit as a reason to quit writing too.
?
2009-05-10 08:13:41 UTC
Finish school.



First of all, by your own admission, you're an "okay" writer. The chances of an okay writer getting published are between minus 10 and zero. Stay in school and take writing classes. The best way to improve your writing is to have it critiqued by a teacher and classmates.



Secondly, very few writers writing full time earn a living wage. Most earn below the poverty level, and need a second income just to pay the bills (Steven King, John Grisham, and Janet Evanovich are exceptions--most writers do NOT earn as much for their books). You are going to need a skill/profession to support you till you publish enough to support yourself by writing.



Thirdly, if you want to make a living as a novelist and screenwriter, you are going to need an education. You need to have more life experiences and maturity, that you will get in college. You need classes in literature and writing. You need to talk to established writers about their experiences. You need to be able to read and comprehend a business contract. You need experience in handling finances. The best way to gain these experiences is in college.
Joseph
2009-05-10 07:27:14 UTC
No- absolutely not.



Most published novelists don't make a lot of money, only the super-famous best-sellers do, and screenwriting is a rough-tough profession that's very difficult to get into.



The reality is that most writers teach, copy-write, edit, or have some other job to support themselves and if you chose to leave school you'd be without that option entirely.



That aside, to be a good writer you need to be well-read, and you need experience. I don't know anything about you, but when I was your age I was hardly thinking critically about the written word, and what I was reading wasn't going to get me very far. College will help bring you to think point, hopefully.
kelby_lake
2009-05-10 07:20:24 UTC
You can't just jump into something like that. Hell, loads of people love writing, but do you want it to become a business? You need to have business acumen to get published- it's not just a case of 'Ooh, isn't my book so wonderful! Let's get it published.'



You aren't going to make much money from writing, especially if you're only an 'okay' writer. There's millions of 'okay' writers. I'm 'okay' at tennis, but I'm not going to be a professional tennis player.



I suggest you rethink. Journalism is the most obvious route to choose, but it's very competitive. If you want to compete as a novelist and screenwriter (do you have the technical knowledge for that?) you'd better be brilliant.



A good idea does not a good writer make.
2016-05-29 02:55:54 UTC
writing can be hard but the goal is to go through and achieve those things rather than to just run away from them. That goal is what school is all about. Once you learned how to write T.A.G, it can prove to be a very useful skill to you later on in your life and by then, you'd be happy that you did learn it instead of giving up. Don't quit school. School is to prepare you to live in the outer world where things are going to be much more difficult if you're not prepared. No matter how hard, you have to go through school. Your life will be much easier if you did.
dontpanic
2009-05-10 09:55:45 UTC
Firstly, I'd say its foolish whatever you want to do to leave school after your compulsory age.

Like others have said, unfortunately no-one will be interested in you if you don't have qualifications. Moreover, a Degree in English Lit or Media will boost the quality of your writing as well as making you more employable.



There's no reason why you can't start writing now, in actual fact, its great if you do but remember to keep checking back on your work, because as you grow (with age and writing experience) your style will change and improve.



It's a difficult time for writers but its best to make sure you have some solid qualifications under your belt to appeal to Publishers and give your writing time to mature.



Best of luck. xD
queenjeanarlene
2009-05-10 07:32:48 UTC
To be a good writer you will need an education. A you will need an intimate familiarity with words and punctuation. You will need to know the depth of the human condition and be able to express it in a way that is enlightening. to your readers. You need to experience life. You really need your education. "Okay writers" have a hard time making a living. Don't limit your self like that. Going back to school is a lot more difficult than just finishing school. Not having a High School diploma will shut yo out of a lot of higher paying Jobs. Please Put your self first! Finish School.
Darkling
2009-05-10 07:08:24 UTC
The chances are that you're a decent writer, but it can take from months to years to finish a book, then to find a publisher. Publishers see 100's of manuscripts a day so yours might over looked. The chances of getting published are slim, so you might never make any money out of it.



The best thing for you to do is to keep studying English in College and/or Uni, and get a job as a teacher or some kind of job and write in your spare time, you're going to need some kind of income, and when you finish books and screen plays you can send them off and hope for the best.



So good luck :)
joedlh
2009-05-10 07:12:11 UTC
Sad to say, the reality is that you will need some kind of compensation simply to allow you to live. Most writers start out in jobs that may or may not be related to writing. Successful authors have written on the side until their writing was able to support them. Many of them lived an indigent existence; many unrecognized writers still do.



Writing is one thing, but getting your stuff published is what puts food on the table. You may be naturally gifted, but you are unhoned. Writing is a skill that uses tools. Stay in school to learn and perfect those skills. Writers also draw from their experiences. Start working on yours. Even though writing is a solitary profession, join a guild or writers group where you can share and learn.
2009-05-10 07:07:58 UTC
Finish school. You'll learn about the world, and techniques of writing and rules of screenwriting etc, and what makes it good. Then, after you've gained all this expertise, write, and people will take you seriously and read it, not taking you for some overly-ambitous highschool drop-out. Keep writing, even now. Practice makes perfect. X
midnight adrenaline
2009-05-10 07:03:42 UTC
I kind of want to do that too, and my mother even said I could. (She was probably only half-serious though.) But next year I'm going to a better high school, and hopefully my talent for writing won't be ignored. (Right now it is.)



So don't give up, stay in school. If it's possible, change schools. Go to one that supports creativity, if your current school doesn't.



But I think you should stay in school, because you might be inspired when bored in class. Once I was bored in maths, and it inspired a poem.



Then again, if you're really talented, maybe you should go for dream. Maybe post a story of yours on fictionpress and then post the link so I can read it. (Fiction press protects your works.)



And make sure your parents know you love writing and that they agree with whatever your decision is.



-Kayleigh
xenophilia
2009-05-10 07:05:42 UTC
Mark Twain once said, "I've never let my school interfere with my education."



It would be such an experience to go out on your own, doing what you love to do. You would learn things you never would in school.



However, I think it's crucial to at least finish High School, (college would be your choice). I'm only 13, but from what I hear, high school is hell. If you can stick it out with all your bones intact though, it's completely worth it.



Hope I Helped and Happy Mother's Day!
?
2009-05-10 07:03:10 UTC
Finish school, if you don't have a high school diploma no one will hire you. Maybe take a few writing classes to see if it is really what you want to do, if it is then give it a try but, you might want to have post-secondary education first.
2009-05-10 07:12:34 UTC
Bad idea..

It takes a long time to excel at writing..and it' doesn't always pay great.

Finish your education..you can keep writing while you're doing it.

So you will be gaining experience while still bringing in a paycheck.
Ritsuka♡
2009-05-10 07:19:18 UTC
No, you should continue school and graduate. So when your writing doesn't work out you can always get a job. And also you have gotten so far and you just want to quit you'll never get anywhere if you just want to quit and people would look down on you...and you don't want that. You don't want people to look down on you.
spinning and spinning
2009-05-10 07:34:21 UTC
Furthering your education could only help you improve.

You can't just want to be a writer, and wing it..there's much more you have to learn.
A Young Soul
2009-05-10 07:12:51 UTC
Don't do it. Finish school. If you don't, I promise you, YOU WILL REGRET IT FOREVER. You *need* an education.
2009-05-10 07:08:42 UTC
how would u write if u quit school?
Garfield 101
2009-05-10 07:03:16 UTC
You have to be able to write your reading,

before someone can read your writing. <}:-})
The Halfway Champion
2009-05-10 07:18:47 UTC
dont even think about it





finish school first


This content was originally posted on Y! Answers, a Q&A website that shut down in 2021.
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