Is Being a Novelist Your Calling? Unveiling the Writer Within

Whenever I write something, be it big or small, useful or useless, others may like it or not, my inner self dances. That’s when I know I’m here to write. If that joy is taken away for any reason, for that moment I cease to be a writer.

The Call of the Writer

The first time you hear it, it's a whisper. A secret passed from the shadows, crawling into your ears and settling into the deepest parts of you. It's a hunger, an itch beneath your skin that only words can scratch. And you can't ignore it; you can't forget it. Because it's the call of the writer.

You know you're meant to be a writer when the world around you becomes an endless playground of stories. You see the beauty in the ordinary, the magic in the mundane. The conversations you overhear in a crowded café, the way the sun paints the sky at dusk – everything is material, everything is a seed waiting to be planted. Writing is your refuge, your solace, your therapy. You scribble in notebooks, on napkins, on the backs of receipts – anything to capture the ideas that buzz like fireflies in your mind. Writing is your lifeline, the thread that keeps you tethered to this spinning chaotic world.

Writing is your passion, and you find yourself unable to let go of the stories that live inside you. They are your children, your friends, your enemies – born from the depths of your imagination and brought to life with each stroke of the pen. And you would do anything, anything at all, to see them thrive. This compulsion is what drives you to write, not for validation, but because it is an intrinsic part of who you are.

The Journey of a Novelist

After you've honed your craft, you start pounding out the pages. Probably few people can get past 80. Suppose you keep on going and pound out 300. What happens then? Do you rush out and self-publish? Or do you start over again from the beginning, taking the entire thing to bits and building it back again?

Many are called, few are chosen. Writing a novel is a journey, and only those who are truly passionate and dedicated will persevere. You must be willing to embrace the long, often grueling process of writing and revising your work. Each novel you write is a reflection of your growth as a writer, and it is through this process that you truly discover whether being a novelist is your calling.

The True Call of a Novelist

Write a novel. If you enjoy doing it, write another. If a third one, keep demanding you write it even if the first two failed to satisfy you, then maybe being a novelist is your calling. If, after nearly every book you read in your genre, you close it at the end and think about how you could have done it a little differently or think you could have done it better, consider writing a novel. This reflection shows that you are driven by a desire to create, not just to consume.

But if you want to write a book because “everyone has a book in them” or because someone said to you “You should write a book,” and you haven’t attempted it yet, even a year after hearing that, then chances are it’s not your real “calling” but a “thing” you figure you should try, like skydiving or making out with your best friend of the same sex “just to see if you like it.” If you say “writing will make me feel like I've accomplished something,” chances are you’re not cut out to be a novelist.

The novelists I know are driven and have an uncontrollable urge, even age and exhaustion can't quell. Writing is an inseparable part of their lives, a way of expressing their deepest thoughts and feelings. They write for the pure joy of creation and the satisfaction of bringing their stories to life. This is the true call of a novelist – a calling that goes beyond words and into the very core of who they are.