How to start freelance writing
It’s never too early or too late to become a writer. Oscar Wilde and Virginia Woolfe started writing in their twenties. Others like Sir Walter Scott were late bloomers, publishing their novels after they crossed sixty. So no matter what your age, let’s move on to learning how to start a freelance writing career. Well, freelance writing is a broad term covering many forms of writing; therefore before taking the plunge you should first narrow down the various options and find a niche that suits you and your interests the best. To do this you have to ask yourself a few important questions.
Writing full time or part time?
The first question you have to tackle once you’ve decided to earn money from freelance writing, is what exactly you’re interested in. Writing full time, part-time, or on the side in your free time. If you already have a regular job or if you’re retired, and you now want to exploit your love of writing to earn a few extra bucks on the side, that’s a great idea. No major decisions involved there.
But if you’re thinking of chucking your job to earn your bread and butter from freelance writing alone, don’t be in a hurry to hand in your resignation letter yet. You have to first understand what a freelancer’s life is really all about and then work to a plan for that. Like I did. Years before I took the leap from a secure job that got me a regular salary to ride the roller coaster of freelancing, I had started submitting short stories and articles on various topics to magazines and newspapers, gaining in confidence as more and more of my work began getting accepted. I then enrolled for a course in copywriting and soon began snagging copywriting and editing assignments as well. Then I did the math and saw that my earnings from writing had risen to a decent level, and luckily, by then I had become eligible for earning a pension if I opted for voluntary retirement. So what do you think I did next? Of course I bid goodbye to my full time job to strike out on my own as a freelance writer, writing full time from home.
The bottom line: If you want to write full time, don’t quit a regular job for freelancing till your writing career is on firmer ground.
What kinds of writing do you have a flair for?
The best thing about freelance writing is that there are so many dimensions to it. So ask yourself what type of writing you would enjoy. Do you have a vivid imagination? Do interesting news reports, say about a mother who is reunited with a lost child after some years, or about a celebrity who claims to have shot his girlfriend by mistake, fascinate you so much you find you can exploit these as concepts for crafting stories? That’s great. You could tap this talent to get into fiction writing. Or maybe you have a flair for penning vivid descriptions of places. In that case travel writing could be your niche. If you love going down memory lane and harbour such photographic memories of the past in your mind that you can create captivating memoir pieces, you should consider memoir writing. Is persuasive writing your forte? Then you would be good at writing opinion pieces.
Similarly, do topics like food and nutrition, handicrafts, architecture, finance, electronic devices, health and lifestyle, politics, education, family matters, etc. interest you? Then feature writing would be a sensible choice. Or if you’re good at explaining things in very clear and simple language, you could consider writing for children. Once you’ve identified your areas of interest, research similar articles in your favourite magazines or newspapers or other relevant publications to see the standard of writing that clicks with editors. The stuff you read may seem easy in your head but when you actually try putting your thoughts down into words, that’s when you’ll realize how hard it is to write well. So set aside time to try your hand at these different types of writing. Attempt the creative writing exercises at the end of this lesson for starters, and make an honest appraisal of your efforts to gauge the current quality of your writing.
What about exploiting your professional background?
By now you might be aware of the advice waved in the faces of aspiring writers: Write about what you know! So if you’re an experienced dietician, interior decorator, financial consultant, or whatever, you could mine story ideas from your area of expertise. Editors simply love experts, but you’ll have to approach them with fresh article ideas for getting a nod from them. For example, you shouldn’t suggest an article that’s all about yoga asanas, but something like an article on useful yoga asanas for senior citizens, or the physically challenged. Being employed as an analytical chemist, the first article I wrote in my life was for the Chemical Industry Digest. Beginning with the profiles of chemical industries of different countries, I moved on to submitting special feature stories and even a series of articles on Chemistry in Daily Life.
Once you gain mastery over your niche area of writing, life will be easier, for then editors will begin to approach you for articles instead of you chasing them for work.
Creative writing exercises
So now for a taste of the real thing, here are a few creative writing exercises for you to sink your teeth into:
1. In 500 words, write about a real incident or an imaginary one beginning with the line: I’ll never forget what happened that day in school (you could replace school with college or the office).
(As an example, here’s my 500-word story titled Mission Possible for which I won the second prize in a Times of India short story competition. We had to write about a day in the life of an Indian and give the 500-word piece a suitable title. I forget the introductory sentence given to us, but it went something like this: Still sleepy, he stretched out his hand and turned off the alarm.)
2. Write about a funny family anecdote or relative in 400-500 words. Don’t think of the word limit while writing the first draft. As the thoughts flow through your mind, just keep writing. When you’re done, edit your work for clarity. Trim the flab and make your sentences crisp. Then continue editing to fit the word count.
(A good example of humour writing is Helen Fielding’s bestselling romantic comedy Bridget Jones’s Diary, or for a quick read, this excerpt from a P. G. Wodehouse novel.)
3. Write down 3 things you love / hate most in your town/city. Pick any one as a topic and write a short 500 word article.
(As an example, read my rantings on re-naming Mumbai streets that appeared in the Mumbai Mirror.)
4. As an exercise in memoir writing, in 500 words write a nostalgic piece on holiday experiences as a child.
(An example: A memoir piece that appeared in the Herald.)
Psst: Just drop me a line at veenawrites16@gmail.com, and I’ll email you my FREE e-booklet titled: Free Online Resources for Writers. It’s a compilation of helpful online resources every writer needs, freebies I found by scouring the internet and which I have personally found to be very useful.
Bye for now… and don’t forget to pass the word around to your friends who might be interested in earning money from freelance writing.
This article and the course so far have been very useful. I worked in mainstream news channels for almost 3 years. But news channels are too stressful and before reaching a burnout stage I quit. It’s been three years since then and all I did all these years is just travel, travel and more travel. I have a substantial bank of places I have travelled to. This article about freelance writing encouraged me to write about my travel experiences. Kindly guide me as to whom to approach for freelance travel writing. Should I approach the travel magazines? Or travel shows? What should be my right path?
Anuja, I don’t know if you have had anything published before. I assume you haven’t. Well, first you have to hone your writing skills. Read published travel articles in different magazines and in the travel sections of newspapers and see how your writing compares with what you read. Both of these could be potential markets for your work. But if you’re going to continue with the rest of the workshop, in the next 2 tutorials I’ll be covering how you could develop your craft, and how to find writing opportunities. You’ll find useful information there for getting closer to being a published writer.