AaronTurpen.com

Most professional writing is not creative (fiction) writing, but instead is usually fact-based journalism, commentary, copy writing, and so forth.  While there are some similarities between how the two professions work, they’re very different from one another.  Most of my experience is in professional writing and though I have published a few fictional pieces in the past, I do not consider myself a creative (fiction) writer.

Like most writers, of course, I’d like to be a novelist.  I think every writer “has a novel in them waiting to get out.”  For me, however, fiction writing is hard, hard work.  I envy novelists like Stephen King who can pump out 10 pages a day, but that is not for me.  For all I know, he envies my ability to churn out thousands of words of non-fiction a day, so we’re probably even.

There are many writers who’ve gone from professional non-fiction such as journalism or even technical writing to the world of fiction.  Some of the more successful, who are also some of my favorites, include John Ross and Robert E. Howard.  On the flip side, many fiction writers have broken into non-fiction, some of my favorites there include Isaac Asimov (the majority of who’s writing was non-fiction in the end) and Mark Twain (though his career included both types of writing throughout).

So how do you make the transition and get into a new biz?

Most of those who have done so had made names for themselves in their former occupation and made the transition based mostly on their own reputations.  Building a career as a writer, no matter your chosen style of writing, requires hard work and dedication.  And a thick skin, as well.

Many writers successfully make the jump from one writing type to the other, though.  It’s not only possible, but can sometimes be extremely beneficial.  Has anyone ever heard of Robert E. Howard the journalist?  After a short stint at a local Texas newspaper, Howard began to see his fictional stories get published more regularly and eventually gave up on journalism – for which he had little talent, he claimed.

After a long and extremely successful career as a short-story writer and novelist, Isaac Asimov began writing children’s science books, encyclopedia entries, and many other books and articles of non-fiction and greatly enjoyed it in his later years.

In fact, many well-known writers began their careers or ended them after switching from one style of writing to another.  J.R.R. Tolkien was an academic before writing his first novel, The Hobbit, as a children’s story for his son Christopher.  John Ross is well-known for his non-fiction political commentary and historical writing and made an extremely successful transition with his first novel, Unintended Consequences.

So if you’re a professional writer of fiction or non-fiction and hoping to switch to the other style, know that it’s been done and that it’s possible for you to do it too!