Staff writer Mina Yasar gives writing advice, and how to make a career out of writing no matter your degree choice.
While I was in high school, most of my friends seemed very sure about their degree choices. Some of them were interested in politics and decided to study Political Science. Others were very successful in STEM subjects and their dream major was Computer Engineering. There were a lot of different choices but nearly none of them indicated an interest in creative writing. I was interested in writing film scripts and short stories, was I the only one? I felt sad about this but also I didn’t choose my degree of Media and Visual Arts at first. I was thinking that I should continue writing but my degree should be Business Management.
I was still trying to find an answer to this question: why doesn’t anyone want to be a writer anymore? Or: do they want it, but think that they should choose jobs in STEM, Law, or Business Management? I felt like most of my friends made their major choices purely because of the popularity, safety, and income rates of careers in those fields.
After having conversations with different people, I understood that people want to work in creative writing. However, they think that they are not good enough at writing or they felt like their interest in different majors stopped them from writing and following their dreams. I almost gave up my dream once as well.
When I finished high school, I had an offer from King’s Business School and felt very lucky and accepted it. After a while, I changed my mind and decided to study Media and Visual Arts since I was always more interested in creative writing and arts. By studying this, I also realised we don’t have to feel pressured to be interested in only one area. I was interested both in visual arts and media studies and studying double degree really helped me to solve my job confusion. I think it shouldn’t be about the major we are studying. We should not be worry about the number of people who would read our articles, scripts or books. If you desire to write, it is enough for you to at least try it. There could be some reasons that make you feel bad about your writing skills, but if you love writing, you should also think about the positive arguments.
Here are three reasons why you should start or continue writing.
YOUR DEGREE DOES NOT LIMIT YOUR CAREER CHOICES
Some of us think that people who wish to work in creative industries or publishing must have a degree in creative writing, journalism, English, media, or communication. This could be a prerequisite for working in some publishing firms and magazines. However, there are a lot of different magazines, publishing companies, or newspapers that choose writers from a range of degrees. Having people who are professionals in different areas could mean that there are new subjects to explore. This way, it appeals to more people and different interests, so don’t worry about your degree choice.
ITS NORMAL TO REWRITE ARTICLES
In most cases, if you don’t write on a personal blog or website, you have to pitch your ideas and articles to editors. It is very beneficial because you can learn from each other and it helps identify misunderstandings and areas of improvement that you haven’t spotted. Having someone to help you and contribute to your writing is a positive thing.
However, when people write articles for the first time, they could think that revising their writing pieces means they’re not good enough. This is a misunderstanding. Most of us rewrite articles, its a normal thing. Every time we add something different, our article becomes more meaningful to our readers. So, if your editor advises you to do more research or write again, in most cases you should not take it personally and continue writing without worrying about your writing skills.
THERE WILL ALWAYS BE PEOPLE WHO DON’T LIKE YOUR ARTICLES
When we are having a conversation about an ordinary subject with our friends or family, we always have different opinions. When they tell us that they don’t agree with our opinions, most of the time we don’t take it personally or get upset. It is something we are used to. However, when people don’t like our articles, we feel pressured and start to reconsider our writing skills. It could be a children’s book, magazine or newspaper article, or a novel. But we feel like we are not writing well enough when people don’t like it.
It is a very common thing, everybody experiences this when starting to write. Writers sometimes feel like everybody has to like their articles. But, of course, some people won’t. It is not a reason for you to give up writing. For example, when a lot of people watch a movie, some like it and some don’t. Yet the film cast and the screenwriter don’t give up, they continue to produce and write different movies. It is the same for a writer, you could always write a new piece when you feel like the readers didn’t like the previous one. And don’t forget there are always people in every area of life that would disagree with you. It should not be a reason for you to not chase your dream.
Staff Writer
