othelladub's Diaryland Diary

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good to know

from monster.com :

THE JOB

Being a creative writer can mean a lot of different things: authoring fictional books, creating poetry, fictional writing for magazines or online publications, being a playwright, or even working on comic books or for greeting card companies.

This is the ultimate free-agent occupation. There are few full-time jobs for creative writers, so a big part of the job is marketing yourself as an independent worker.

SKILLS

Of course, the exact skills needed can vary depending on the creative writing you're doing. For instance, a great comic book writer isn't necessarily a great romance novelist and vice versa. But suffice it to say, creative writers must be both creative and good writers.

Creative writers often need to be excellent researchers/reporters as well. Just because a book is fictional, it doesn't mean it was not extensively researched. For example, James Michener had teams of researchers working for him when he produced his fictionalized histories.

A creative writer needs to be a master of self-promotion -- getting people to pay for your writing is hard work.

EDUCATION

Most creative writers have at least a bachelor's degree, although this field pays little attention to degrees and certifications for the most part.

OUTLOOK

There are no numbers available specifically for those in the creative writing field, but writers and editors held about 341,000 jobs in 1998. Nearly one-third of salaried writers and editors worked for newspapers, magazines and book publishers. That number is expected to increase by 2008.

Competition for these jobs and contracts is intense. Creative writing is a famously difficult way to make a living. A fallback plan or another source of income is highly recommended.

12:11 a.m. - 2002-04-09

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