10 Common Misconceptions of the Wannabe Novelist, #4

See Part 1, Part 2, and Part 3. #4: If I write it, they will come. Some wannabe novelists have watched Field of Dreams a few too many times. They can hear that mystical voice whispering across the cornfields. If you write it, they will come. Readers won’t be able to get enough of you. They’ll gobble up whatever you write and beg for more. You’ll be famous. You’ll be rich.  Okay, maybe that’s an exaggeration for most of us, but when I was a kid I had this silly notion that if I just published a novel, I’d be instantly famous, and the road ahead of me would be paved in gold. No, I didn’t hear voices (otherwise I’d probably be locked in a padded room by now), but I seriously thought authors were famous people who just kept publishing novels and had no financial anxieties. For proof all I had to do…

Read more