Stephen Leigh & S.L. Farrell

Roaming at the intersection of fiction and reality

The Formula For Success

In our society, we’re inundated with easy solutions. Advertising tells us we can master any skill in ten easy lessons, fix anything that’s broken with just one application of Stupendous-Incredible Glue, or learn the secrets of financial security by following three simple guidelines. We expect that there is a goal, that it is reachable, and that once we reach our goal, we’re finished with the process.

None of that is true. As is the case with nearly every art, there’s never an “end point” you reach as a writer: you just continue working, which in turn increases your skill with each story. The concept of ‘Mastery’ is a chimera, always receding away from you no matter where you stand. You can set secondary goals if you like—“I’m going to sell my first novel by the time I’m thirty”—but sometimes you don’t or can’t reach those goals. Even if you achieve a ‘success’ such as selling a few novels, there’s no guarantee that it’s a replicable process. Each new book is a new challenge. You’re never, ever, done. There's always another level you can reach, if you wish.

But it doesn’t surprise me, as a working writer and as a teacher of creative writing, that writers commonly get asked this: “What’s the secret to being successful?” The question might be framed less blatantly, but that’s essentially it: as if the person suspects there’s a store of hidden knowledge that the insiders have gained and which we deliberately keep from the common rabble. If there is such a Masters’ Fount of Wisdom, I’ve yet to discover it. Still, some version of The Inevitable Question comes to me often enough when I talk to new writers that I’ve given a fair amount of thought as to my answer.

And I’ve come to the conclusion that there actually is a formula for success for writers. And I’m going to give it to you. You want advice more concrete than just “keep practicing and you’ll get better.” You want those elusive Ten Easy Steps. You want an article that reveals the inner secrets.

Fine. Here’s the simple formula you need to follow:

Success = Talent + Dedication + Passion + Luck

I honestly believe this can serve as a guide for someone looking to examine where they are in their own writing career. But before you can apply this formula, you need to know how these terms are defined. Let’s take them all, one by one.

“Success” is the goal, so let’s look at that first. My definition of "success" within this formula is as follows: reaching the point where you sell the majority of what you write to professional markets and make at least a substantial portion of your income from your writing. Note that my definition of success doesn't mean you'll be either famous or rich or both. It only means that you'll be able to find places to publish the bulk of your work. That's all. To my mind, that’s a reasonable definition for someone being a working writer. And since this is a formula expressed in mathematical terms, let’s carry our analogy further and assign a numerical value to that definition of success: “100.” What you want to do as a writer following the above formula is reach a score of 100 or better.

Obviously, then, we need to know the definitions and values for the components on the other side of the equation. But first we should take a brief side trip and talk about whether fiction writing is an "art" or a "craft"—because I’d argue that art can’t be taught, but craft is something anyone can learn.

There are influential people who define an "art" is something that is largely driven by a hidden gift that you were other born with or you weren’t. It is, truly, a ‘gift.’ In their minds, you can create Capital-A Art if you have The Gift; if you don't have the Gift, you can’t. Under this theory, you can take two people and give them the same education and upbringing, expose them to exactly the same teachers and give them the same opportunities, and one will be a Leonardo da Vinci and another will be a plumber. (Mind you, there’s nothing wrong with being a plumber—anyone who’s ever been forced to do their own plumbing will tell you that there’s nothing simple or easy about it.)

Those same people would define a "craft" as something that doesn't particularly require inborn talent (though it’s still nice to have)—the basic requirement for a craft is hard work: if you work diligently enough at a craft, you can do it. Talent is not particularly a requirement; it is possible to learn everything you need to know, whether you have a natural inclination for the skill or not. "Art" and "Craft" are, in that sense, nearly polar opposites.

I believe fiction writing is an arcane combination of both. Do I think that some people have a ‘gift’ for writing? I do, absolutely. Do I think that such 'talent for writing' can be learned? No, I don't. But I also think that a goodly percentage of the population has some of that talent residing within them.

With that in mind, here's how I define and value the components on the right side of our equation.

Talent: I believe you can achieve a “score” of somewhere between 0 and 40 here, with the average run of people in the 10 - 15 range. I'd also argue that there's nothing you can do to change your score. Sorry. This is the Capital-G Gift that’s buried deep inside you, and you either have it in your genes or you don’t. Now, before people jump all over that statement as being elitist, everyone should also note that, even with a 'perfect' score of 40, you can't achieve 'success' by our equation.

Talent alone isn’t enough. Ever.

Dedication: As with Talent, you can have a score of 0 - 40 here, and this is an attribute entirely under your control. How hard are you willing to work at this? Will you do the reading and research you need to do to become a better writer? Will you study writing and push yourself to learn everything about it? The harder you're willing to work, the more time you're willing to invest, the more intense your study, the more you practice, the more that writing is a daily habit for you, then the higher your score is going to be. In fact, this attribute’s value might change frequently through your life as other interests arise or fade, or as the necessities of real life intrude on your writing. Sometimes, you just don’t have the time or energy to dedicate yourself to writing... but that will affect the final tally in our formula.

Dedication is the realm of the intellect. Dedication is knowledge. Dedication is experience. Dedication is understanding how the various components of writing fit together to create the whole. Dedication is the willingness to place your rear end in the chair, your fingers on the keyboard, and work, no matter whether you feel like it or not.

Passion: Again, you can achieve a score of 0 - 40 here, and again this is an attribute within your control. Do you love writing? Would you write fiction whether you ever published anything or not? Yes? Then maybe you have passion.

Passion can also be influenced by your current projects—does your work-in-progress excite you? Are you writing what you want to write? With dedication, you can force yourself to stay up all night working on something, but with passion you don't even notice how tired you are because you're driven to do it. When you're not working with passion, the work you're doing becomes more difficult, and there's a strong temptation not to make it the best you can. As with dedication, this value can shift, sometimes quickly. With a pet project, it might be high; with a project you’re doing only for money or to complete a contract, it could be very low. I’ve experienced that myself: I’ve taken on writing projects I perhaps shouldn’t have, and as a result needed to kick up my Dedication to get through them successfully.

Passion is the emotional component. Passion is fire. Passion is feeling. Passion is captured in the soul of the writer and shines through in the words.

Luck: Too many would-be writers I've known use luck as their excuse for failing: "I didn't succeed because I had bad luck." When they see someone else succeed, that gets attributed to luck, too: "She's just been incredibly lucky in her career, that’s all." Luck, in our formula, is scored from -25 to +25—there is indeed bad luck in the publishing world, and there are also people who happen to write just the right thing at the right time for the right editor. Your luck score can change, too—but unfortunately you can’t change it. It’s out of your control. Most of the time, however, luck hovers somewhere in the vicinity of 0. Luck alone, like talent alone, can't get you success.

So let's look at the equation again, with our values attached: Success (100 or better) = Talent (0 to 40) + Dedication (0 to 40) + Passion (0 to 40) + Luck (-25 to +25)

There are some conclusions we can draw from this, if our equation holds. Here are seven examples. Let’s look at these seven potential scores and discuss the implications:

1) With great talent, if you also have great dedication, passion, and (yes) luck, you can be a superstar in the writing world. In fact, there are writers for whom this is the case—and you know them, because you’ve heard their names, studied their works in school and/or seen their books on the best-seller lists time after time. After all, a perfect score is 145 and well above our arbitrary goal of 100 (though no one ever has the perfect score...).

2) Why, if you have great talent, dedication, and passion, you can overcome some of the worst luck the world can throw at you.

3) With great talent and a bit of luck, you can have mediocre dedication and passion for your work, and still be regularly published.

4) But... Even with great talent, if you don't also have some significant dedication and passion, you won't succeed. Sorry. Not even with luck on your side. Talent and luck, as I said above, are never enough on their own.

5) With medium talent (say, in the 20 - 30 range), you too can have a decent career, if you also have the appropriate dedication and passion and maybe a bit of luck. In fact, I'd say that the majority of the writers you see on the racks fall into this category. Frankly, I think I'm in this category.

6) Even with relatively little talent (let's say between 5 and 10), you still can find regular publication, if you have incredible dedication and passion for what you're doing, and your good luck holds.

7) Note that if you have exceedingly average scores all around (15 - 25 in talent, dedication, and passion, with a zero in luck), you don't have enough for success. That's why it's uncommon for someone to become a successful writer. Most people are, by definition, average. Somewhere—in two of our four categories and preferably three—you must be well above average to succeed. That’s unusual in the population as a whole.

Mind you, I don't think that success in writing can really be boiled down to a mathematical equation. This is a way of examining the subject to spark some tactics for success. Let me reiterate: writing isn't solely an Art or a Craft; it's a combination of both. I would argue that there are elements of craft within fiction—skills that pretty much anyone can learn from study: either on your own, through a mentor, or with formal schooling. Like nearly every artistic endeavor, you get better the more you practice—and that's within your control. Always.

At the same time, I don't believe that we're all gifted with the same amount of talent. Some people don't have to work very hard at writing to be good at it. Some people just have a flair, an ear for realistic dialogue or inventive description or compelling plots. Writing comes easily to them. It's not fair (damn it!), but that's the way it is.

Those people, I think, are also rare... and those of us who don't fall into that category can take solace in that. I do, anyway.

So what does this formula mean to a fledgling writer? How can you use this to your advantage? Look at the formula again. There are two qualities—Talent and Luck—that you can’t affect. Talent is buried deep inside and can’t be touched; luck is outside but remains eternally beyond your reach. There’s nothing you can do to alter your score in those two categories. Therefore, forget them.

Don’t waste your time worrying about talent or luck. Don’t consider them at all. Your talent is what it is and you’ll be lucky or you won’t—and neither of those two alone will get you the score you want.

Two qualities—Dedication and Passion—are completely within your control. So that’s where you need to put your focus. Period. You want a high score in passion? Then make sure that writing is something you genuinely have to do, and work on projects that touch your soul. Remember that passion is driven by your emotions. Don’t pick a story to work on because you think there’s a good market for it; pick a story to work on because you can’t stand not to write it. Worry about marketing after your story’s written.

Be aware, however, that to achieve a high score in dedication will take time and effort. Dedication is the gathering of knowledge about your vocation. There’s no instant score here: you start low and slowly add to your total over a period of years through experience and study. The vast majority of us have to work at writing (and work hard) to be successful. The concept of “Dedication” includes understanding all the technical aspects of writing, from truly ‘rote’ knowledge like grammar and spelling to far more slippery concepts like characterization and transition and voice. You have to read other writers’ works and tear them apart; you need to workshop your own fiction and learn what you’re doing wrong; you have to study; you have to realize just how little you understand and work to fill those empty spaces in your knowledge; you have to gain experience, which can only come with time. You have to realize that you can’t to wait for the Muse to come to you, but must drag Her kicking and screaming over to your desk every day.

There are no shortcuts.

So tweaking the formula in your favor is simple: concentrate on your dedication to your chosen discipline; focus on keeping your passion afire. That’s all you need to do. For what it’s worth, this same formula can be applied to nearly every endeavor you’re likely to undertake, whether it’s creative writing, painting, music, or plumbing. It’s a matter on putting your concentration where you can actually make a difference and letting the rest fall where it will.

It’s very simple... but “simple” is not a synonym for “easy.”

That’s the real hidden knowledge of the insiders. A great many of us have the raw potential to work the formula to the point of success, but getting to that point is neither quick nor easy for any but the very talented and very lucky (and sometimes not even for them). Because the task for all the rest of us becomes both demanding and lengthy, most people give up somewhere along the line. They don’t have the stamina. They don’t have the persistence. They lose their belief in themselves and they lose their passion.

Success is within your control—in writing, in nearly anything you might want to try. Concentrate on what you can change, and forget the rest. That’s the formula. That’s the secret.

That’s all it takes.