Getting Started as a Writer
Why most people need a graduate program to learn how to write.
One of the most common questions that people ask me is how to get started as a writer. At Midwestern Baptist Seminary I regularly meet students who are fascinated with writing and feel like they might have something to contribute, but the prospect of becoming a “writer” seems overwhelming.
As I have written here before, starting small is the best first step for aspiring writers. At least in nonfiction writing, one does not typically start by getting a book contract with an established press. If you want to go straight to publishing a book, your only option is normally self-publishing, but almost no one reads most self-published books.
When someone tells me they’re interested in writing, I typically recommend they start writing short posts that they can share publicly, like on a blog or Substack. Put yourself on a doable posting schedule. For example, you could commit to posting six times at your Substack in six months, and then re-evaluate.
I am surprised, however, at how many people who express interest in writing aren’t willing to create a Substack and start posting. Sometimes even that much writing seems like too much. But if you don’t have sufficient “fire in the bones” to post something regularly for a few months, I’m not sure if you’re really interested in being a writer.
Others seem a little downcast at the thought that they would have to begin by writing posts that very few people read. To that I say, “welcome to being a writer.” The only writers who start out with a big audience are generally those who have become famous some other way (tv personalities, etc.). Those writers are often not really the ones producing their books, however - ghost writers and/or AI do. Most writers who go through the normal channels start with a very small audience.
The upside of starting a Substack or a blog is that you can do it right now, for free. There is nothing else that needs to happen before you start writing. The downside is that most people who intend to start writing regularly this way never establish a consistent posting schedule.
Most aspirant writers need more structure. This is where a graduate program comes in. Obviously doing graduate work is a much bigger commitment than creating a Substack is. However, most people need accountability as writers, and providing a structure of accountability is one of the functions of a graduate program.
A Ph.D. program (such as the one at Midwestern) is ultimately designed for students to produce a book-length work (a dissertation), one that they will often publish as a book or as articles. Students practice their writing initially in seminar papers, and then ultimately work under their adviser’s supervision to produce the dissertation.
This is why when selecting a Ph.D. program, the adviser/s you want to work with are arguably the most important factor. If you are interested in doing a Ph.D., think about what current authors and books have influenced you most. Assuming the author in question is a professional scholar, where does he or she teach? Does this author direct Ph.D. dissertations?
When doing a Ph.D., you are in (among other things) a writers’ mentoring program. Not every person will need or want to go through the next phase of the process to publish the dissertation as a book, but the best dissertations will indeed be the first draft of a book. Ph.D. programs are not merely for academic credentialing, then. They should train you in writing at a professional level.
You can pre-order my new book (with Byron Johnson) The Death of Religion?: Nones, Others, and the Flourishing of Faith, from B&H Academic.
My PragerU videos include this one on the Salem Witch Trials of 1692.