011 How to Get Started Writing Young: A Conversation With Brett Harris
How do young writers become published authors? Why is it so hard for young writers to publish, and what can they do to overcome the obstacles? I asked Brett Harris, who published two bestselling books as a young person and now mentors many of the world’s top young writers and authors.
If you look at lists of bestselling or award-winning authors, they are typically predominantly, sometimes exclusively, older. Why is that? Why is it so hard for young people to break into writing?
Why is it so hard for young people to break into writing?
Brett: Starting young matters whether or not you publish young.
If those bestseller and award lists are filled with adults, what percentage of those authors started writing seriously outside of school by the end of their teen years? What is your best guess?
Thomas: I would guess many dabbled but did not take it seriously until later in life.
Brett: At the Young Writer, we researched this. We built a list of 119 popular authors, from C. S. Lewis and Jane Austen to J. R. R. Tolkien, J. K. Rowling, and modern authors like Randy Alcorn, Francine Rivers, and Jerry Jenkins. We asked when they started writing seriously outside of school, whether it was stories, novels, articles, or publishing projects. We learned that 86% started as teenagers, 94% by their early 20s, and only 6% after age 25.
Thomas: That makes sense because it takes a long time to become a good writer. No one emerges fully formed. We are all born illiterate, and mastering the craft takes time. The earlier you start, the longer your runway.
Brett: Randy Alcorn jokes that people say, “When I retire, I am going to become a writer,” and he thinks, “Sure, and I will retire and become a doctor.” Writing takes time.
Young people who dream of holding their book, seeing it on a shelf, or hearing from a reader usually begin where as teens or young adults who take writing seriously. Sometimes life interrupts the dream, perhaps because of marriage, making a living, or even war, but the time invested when you are young lays a foundation. Brain research shows that what we practice when we’re young optimizes our brains to do it well later.
Many authors who “come out of nowhere” in their 30s or 40s actually started as teens.
Thomas: So it is like riding a bicycle. Once you learn, you can pick it up again.
Brett: Right. Starting early lets you return to it. Ideally, you keep the habit going by writing consistently, honing your craft, and learning to write clearly and effectively so that you can offer work of real value down the road.
What challenges are unique to young writers?
Brett: We often school the love of writing right out of them.
Academic writing is not motivating. The Pew Research Center did a study on teens and writing that asked what dampened students’ desire to write. The most common response was that the instruction and assignments they received in school dampened their desire. On the flip side, 90% enjoyed the writing they do outside of school for their own pleasure. That 90% held across boys and girls and across ages.
Thomas: That is sad. Not only do students get discouraged, but they are also often taught techniques that are counterproductive.
I ran a web agency and tried to hire bloggers. When we hired someone straight out of college, we first had to unteach what they learned. Many were farther from good writing after four years of education than before they went to college. We discovered they had learned dated marketing theories instead of useful practices. I have had applicants in tears, realizing how unhelpful their training was.
Brett: Everyone knows that writing on a forced topic like South American rocks to be graded by a computer or a teacher with 30 identical papers is not motivating.
If we want young people to write more and better, we must look beyond academic writing. Help them write on self-selected topics or stories for a real audience. Blogging allows people to write outside of school on topics they choose, and it allows them to write for real readers. It is more motivating and produces better writing.
Thomas: Having an audience improves your writing. In my freshman English class, halfway through the semester, we had to post our work for other students to read. For the first time, we had a real audience. After the first assignment, the professor returned our papers without grades because almost everyone earned an A. That single change made all the difference.
Academic writing often trains you to avoid “you” and even “I.” You end up writing, “One does not consider this topic important,” instead of, “I do not consider this topic important.” When we train bloggers or book writers, we often have to retrain that natural voice, assuming they still love writing at all.
Brett: Parents and teachers can create that same experience by being a real audience who will read and react. My dad calls it “preparing to present.” If we are not preparing to present, we are not motivated to prepare well.
Pew quotes young people saying, “If I knew someone was going to read and react to what I wrote, I would work harder and try to make it the best it could be.”
Thomas: Few school assignments are about helping you improve as a writer. Most writing assignments are merely tests to prove you read the book. The focus becomes grading your mistakes, which can be traumatic. Past guests I’ve interviewed have shared how harsh instruction shut down their writing for decades. Writing is vulnerable. When you put your heart on the page, that ember can be snuffed out by the wrong instructor.
What is the “secret sauce” behind young authors who succeed?
Thomas: You have written multiple bestselling books—the most famous is Do Hard Things (affiliate link), which you coauthored with your brother. What has been your secret of success? What is the Harris “special sauce” for writing bestselling books?
Brett: People look at my family and say, “Your dad wrote a bestseller. Your older brother Josh wrote I Kissed Dating Goodbye and other bestsellers. Then you and Alex wrote a bestseller. It must be a writing gene and industry connections.” That never sat right with me.
In my case, it was not a gene or secret sauce. I simply believed it was possible. Seeing my dad and brother, ordinary people across the dinner table, use words to impact lives made being an author feel attainable. They were not superstars to me. That belief gave my twin brother, Alex, and me the confidence to pursue writing seriously, put in the time, and not give up.
I also wondered whether success was really about connections or about understanding the process. Publishing is complicated. There is a process, but it is not always clear, and there are many competing voices. Having a dad and older brother who had written books gave me knowledge of how the process works.
A few years ago, I mentored a young woman who had written for years on a low-traffic blog, honing her craft and developing her message. I wondered if I could help someone with no industry knowledge, no connections, and parents who knew nothing about publishing? Could I give her a sequence of steps to become a published author?
Her name is Jaquelle Crowe. Her book with Crossway, This Changes Everything: How the Gospel Transforms the Teen Years, was released in 2017. It sold 10,000 copies in the first four days and won awards from Christianity Today and The Gospel Coalition. Now publishers are asking for her next book. That experience showed me it is not merely about a gene or connections. It is about believing it is possible and knowing how to do it.
Thomas: Many people think that because typing words into a screen is physically easy, getting published should be easy too. You click save, upload, and you are done. That ignores how much there is to learn.
Publishing, like any industry, requires craft and time. Think about your job. Could you learn it in a day? Writing is similar, and the landscape is competitive. Readers want the best book in a category, not the fifth best. That means you must invest in education.
Should young writers major in creative writing?
Brett: There are good reasons to go to college, but if your primary goal is to grow as a writer and pursue publication, college is usually a slower and far more expensive path. The young authors I have mentored take unconventional approaches. Many forego college, some take gap years to focus on writing, and some use online programs to earn dual credit and finish college-level work by the end of high school. They are not spending four years and tens of thousands of dollars on a creative writing or English degree.
Thomas: College is not the deal it was for previous generations. Costs have skyrocketed while the value has not. I do not recommend liberal arts majors for most young people; the return on investment is weak. Degrees that end in “ing,” like accounting, nursing, and engineering, still make sense. For writing, there are faster, cheaper resources online, and you avoid professors who might crush your writing dreams.
Brett: Writers I know who pursued writing-related degrees tell me they would have skipped college if they had known about today’s alternatives. These options are faster and cheaper, let you focus on writing, and allow for part-time or even full-time work while you improve your craft.
College can make sense for other reasons, but if writing is the goal, it is not the best path today.
What mistakes do young writers make that hurt publishing prospects?
Brett: The biggest one, no matter your age, is giving up too soon. Many conclude they are not good enough, will never figure it out, or have no audience.
On average, it takes six years from when someone starts writing seriously to their first traditionally published book. Some take longer; some are faster. But six years is typical.
In other careers, such as law and medicine, it takes four to seven years, often more, before you earn money. No one asks a second-year law student why they are not making money yet, but people ask writers that all the time. Writing takes time.
Thomas: You have to sow before you reap. Even before sowing, you prepare the soil and gather what you need. Success in any field involves many steps.
Brett: Which is why starting young matters. Start early, and you have time and a financial runway to put in those six or more years before life pressures mount. If you start later, you face more constraints.
I advise writers to start young and stick with it. Write seriously as soon as possible, hone the craft, learn the industry, and keep going. You probably won’t succeed in one or two years. The average is six or more years.
Where should teens who want to be authors begin?
Brett: Visit TheYoungWriter.com. We support and educate young writers on what it takes to pursue writing seriously.
Start with our free Writer Score Assessment. The idea is that there is more to writing than just writing.
We help young writers evaluate themselves across ten crucial domains they need to grow in if they want a career: platform, family support, community, mentorship, and more. A career in writing is more than just words on the page. Get a clear picture of where you are, then work consistently.
Treat writing like learning an instrument or a sport. You do not play only when you feel like it and expect excellence. Commit consistent time and investment, and seek outside input and support. Also, find a writing community where you can connect with peers, get feedback, share work for critique, and do word sprints to beat writer’s block.
Thomas: Community and accountability are powerful. It is no surprise that C. S. Lewis and J. R. R. Tolkien were in a writers group called the Inklings. Writing does not have to be lonely. I appreciate your resources tailored to young writers who want to become authors. It is a far better deal than college for students who want to become writers.
Brett: We offer a free guide for parents on encouraging young writers and a guidebook for young writers with advice from authors like Randy Alcorn, Francine Rivers, Jerry Jenkins, Andrew Peterson, and more, plus insights from agents, publishers, and editors. We also have a paid program, the Young Writers Workshop, which opens for enrollment twice a year and provides personal support and community to help young writers write more and write better.
Links:
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