Please Show Me Some Uneducated Published Authors.

I don't have any examples, but judging from your post, what you're doing sounds right to me. It's the storytelling that makes a novel great, not the number of big fancy words in it.

BTW, if you want a fun way to boost your vocabulary, sign up for the Word of the Day at www.yourdictionary.com. I've discovered the name for a lot of things I never knew had one that way.

You're worrying too much.

Don't waste time comparing yourself to other writers--that way lies madness. You'll know when you're "doing it right" by the reactions of readers and editors.

Now I need to go off and take my own advice.

Just as in almost any other profession, you're going to find educational levels for individual writers are all over the map. Having a PhD isn't going to make you a writer - and NOT having one isn't going to keep you from it.

The real question is can you tell a story that the reader will care about? Such things as propper grammar are simply a matter of mechanics and not artistic creation, that can always be rectified with hard work and self education.

I like what Stephen King once said (paraphrasing):

Write the first draft with the door closed, and only tell yourself the story.

Then rewrite with the door open, trying to make the story understandable to the rest of the world.

P.S.
Obviously my grammar is horrible too, so I hope I'm right about what I just said!

Julie,

If it makes you feel better, your post demonstrates stronger grammar skills than some folks I know who've received a college degree. (Not sure HOW they managed to do that, but they did.)

You seem to be a self-directed learner -- and that means far more than a piece of paper with a collage name stamped on it. Because it means you can learn whatever you need to -- indeed, you're already working on educating yourself about writing. You're doing your homework.

Best of luck to you, and YOU GO, girl!

Susan G.

I don't think it matters (but then again, I only have a ninth-grade education. ) I think writers can sometimes worry too much about having a PHD or a degree from a fancy college, when really all that matters is that you have an interesting story to tell and a unique or fresh view of things. Keep writing your book, keep trying to make it the best it can be, and when you submit it you will find out if it is publishable or not-- but even if you don't sell this one, don't give up. Write a second novel and a third novel and a forth novel and try to sell those as well.

Julie,

Stop being daft.

Getting published is hard work, as is everything that is worth doing. A person's writing is published because that person took the trouble to learn the craft if it didn't come naturally -and it usually doesn't -, and because an Agent felt their writing was good enough.

Writing novels is a craft and has to be learned just like any other craft or skill.

Remember...you're writing for readers of all levels, you're not writing for college professors. Writing a term paper or a thesis is vastly different from writing a story for "the masses". It's usually better to keep it simple anyway.

As long as you have a firm grasp on the mechanics, the length of the words isn't important.

Good luck!

Oh my god! I left school at sixteen and never went to college or uni beyond short, twelve-week courses to kill time. Does that mean I'm not allowed to be a writer???

The best education you can get as a novelist is right there on the shelves of your local bookstore.

I must have earned a Ph.D. in Stephen King by the time I was 17, and I value that as much as any degree I have.

Read a lot of books by authors known for their wrting skills. You'll absorb vocabulary and phrasing and paragraphing and etc. by osmosis - and it won't even hurt!

For that matter, read books by anyone. If you find a book boring and want to throw it against the wall, see if you can work out why and don't write like that.

And vice-versa.

Good luck.

I'm a 9th grade high school dropout, and I've done OK. And I don't even have a GED.

I think a lot of us writers (and yes, I know that's ungrammatical, but I write posts the way I speak) are self-educated in one way or another. I went to university, but it was to study zoology, and essay-writing was only tiny part of that. Nor do I use my degree a great deal in my writing (though it gave me a head start in creating my "alien" species).

My WiP is alternate history, and yet I dropped history at 14 because I found the way that it was taught in my school very dull. Hence, everything I know beyond the basics, I learnt just by reading. And reading. And reading some more...

A friend of mine has had several books published and she never went to college. She heads our area writers' guild. It seems you've got the basic skills and drive needed; go for it! (BTW, your written vocabulary level should only be at about 5th to 8th grade, anyway, for popular novels--so they say.)

Education

I'd say there are no uneducated published writers, but there are a fair number of published writers who have no degree of any kind.

I do think a formal degree, a formal education, is a huge advantage for a writer, and one that gets bigger each year as the world becomes more and more technological. Go down the list of bestselling writers, and you won't find many who lack a formal education. This isn't a coincidence.

But this in no way means you can't educate yourself. If you need a better vocabulary, you can pick it up by reading everything you can get your hands on, including an old-fashioned dictionary. If you want to write better descriptions, then read writers who do this well.

I do, however, think that many who want to be writers concentrate too much on reading novels. Reading novels can help greatly with the writing itself, but it won't give you much to write about, and won't give you the kind of knowledge that should go hand in hand with being a writer.

Read everything, including as much nonfiction as you can find time to read. Be curious. Love to learn. If you have no formal education, then give yourself the best informal education possible.

Will Lavender said:

The best education you can get as a novelist is right there on the shelves of your local bookstore.

I must have earned a Ph.D. in Stephen King by the time I was 17, and I value that as much as any degree I have.

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Ditto.

I earned my BA in English lit with an emphasis in creative writing. But I can honestly say that didn't teach me how to write. Mainly it was a fun way to pass the time until I got that piece of paper that would get me a good job. I can prove it, because at sixteen I was publishing short stories. So clearly I already knew how! READING taught me how to write. Reading increases your vocabulary, reading gives you patterns and examples and ideas. I was perpetually bored in school, primarily because the information flow was so painstakingly slow. Become an avid reader, and the writing will come.

SouthernFriedJulie said:

BUT, my main concern is that I feel I don't have an extensive enough vocabulary nor have any idea of the right words to use to make my novel more interesting.

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First of all, many writers don't have a college degree.

Second, English is my second language and I had the same concern when I started writing. I didn't feel my vocabulary was good enough. My SAT score (English) wasn't very good -- but that was years ago. I do have college and graduate degress, but they're in science -- not writing or anything remotely close to it. Having a degree in programming a computer didn't really help me learn how to write, especially in a second language.

There are many ways to educate yourself without a formal education. Reading is the best education you can get, and hands-on writing is the best practice one can do. So keep reading -- get your hands on any fiction, no matter what genres -- and keep writing every day. It doesn't matter if it's just a blog or a journal or AW postings or stories -- keep writing.

Join a writing group. Attend community college writing classes. Take any kind of active approach.

I'm pretty bare bones when it comes to descriptions, though it's more of a preference. I hate paragraphs of descriptions, so I don't want to write that way but I do want the descriptions I have to stand out. AND I don't want to use 'said' or 'spoke' over and over...I hope I'm not being too shadowy or vague here.

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Nothing wrong with barebone. Many writers write like that, and it's their style. There are many ways to tell a good story. Again, read. Read as much as you can and see what the masters are doing, how they did it. If you find a book you particularly like, study it and see what the writers did right.

And there's nothing wrong with "he said/she said." It's a common misconception that writers should show off their vocabulary by using every alternative of "said."

I just need some examples so I can read the works of the 'less' educated writers who have been published to get a feel of...well, just to get to know if what I am doing is right.

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My thought is, aiming low is not the way to go. Just read. Start with the best. Your genres. Out of your genres. And sooner or later, you will find your way.

I have a high school education, and a fairly mediocre one at that. Took one class at community college (but didn't finish) and attended a certificate-only class on film-making (which served no practical purpose).

Education has almost nothing to do with it. So long as you're literate, willing to learn, and love to read you've got all the required skills

JoNightshade said:

I earned my BA in English lit with an emphasis in creative writing. But I can honestly say that didn't teach me how to write. Mainly it was a fun way to pass the time until I got that piece of paper that would get me a good job. I can prove it, because at sixteen I was publishing short stories. So clearly I already knew how! READING taught me how to write. Reading increases your vocabulary, reading gives you patterns and examples and ideas. I was perpetually bored in school, primarily because the information flow was so painstakingly slow. Become an avid reader, and the writing will come.

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I started selling short stories and novels long before I had a degree, as well, but the degree still taught me many things I never would have learned outside of college.

Exceptions are easy to point out, but it's good to keep in mind that they are exceptions. Rare exceptions.

Jamesaritchie said:

I started selling short stories and novels long before I had a degree, as well, but the degree still taught me many things I never would have learned outside of college.

Exceptions are easy to point out, but it's good to keep in mind that they are exceptions. Rare exceptions.

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Rare they may be, but there's nothing stopping people from becoming exceptions if they so wish. If you have the drive and the willingness to learn, you'd be surprised how much you can teach yourself with an internet ready computer, a library card and some time. There's relatively little in college that can't be learned outside of it, certainly nothing that should prevent you from writing a great book.

While having a college degree myself...

I'd say a college degree, as much it may help, is absolutely not required for having a writing career.

What you really need are critical thinking, a vivid imagination, an eagerness to learn and improve and study and observe, a curiosity about what's happening in the world, a good understanding of human nature and the human conditions, and an appreciation of good stories.

A college degree may help sharpen those skills and talent -- it certainly has merits -- but there are so many different ways to acquire those skills and polish your talent.

Find your own way.