: Will I ever be able to write like a native writer? So a little while ago someone said that I'll never be able to write on a native level because I wasn't born in the UK or America. I
So a little while ago someone said that I'll never be able to write on a native level because I wasn't born in the UK or America. I did, however, go to elementary school in the US at the ages of 5-10 or so, so that has to count for something, right? I just feel really let down for some reason. I can definitely tell when a sentence is or isn't grammatically correct, but I just feel like there's something missing. I'd like to write a novel one day, but I have no clue where to start or if I'm even qualified to write one.
Can anyone give me some tips? I'm currently a nineteen-year-old freshman in college pursuing a bachelor's. I haven't decided on a major yet, but I've been considering Professional Writing/Technical Communication because I think it would be quite cool to make a living writing. However, I'm not sure if that would be a poor degree choice. A lot of people say that it's not very marketable.
I do read a lot of blogs and such daily, and I constantly try to improve my writing by writing as concisely as possible. I feel like the biggest thing that I need to work on right now is increasing my vocabulary size--which means being good at something so that I actually have material to write about.
Thanks!
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@Ogunnowo420
First, you certainly have a level of competency that exceeds most native English speakers.
If you want more training, consider copywriting. www.artofmanliness.com/articles/want-to-become-a-better-writer-copy-the-work-of-others/ Mine the writing of decades for the gems of prose. Chew on style and tone, digest it, make it part of you.
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@Sims2267584
Reading (and listening) is a good way to 'absorb' a language, provided the source material is good. Blogs are likely not to be written as carefully as novels, a BBC news anchor is likely to be more careful with his pronunciation than a random guy on Youtube.
Your writing skills will improve with practice, and with feedback. Join a writers' group (*) and ask people to review your work. Review the work of others (also a learning experience, as it'll force you think about language, rather than use it intuitively).
*: any writers' group, locally where you live or online. Subject doesn't matter, as long as you have fun writing.
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@Gloria285
Yes, you will be able to write as well as a native speaker, in fact you already do. Your written English is already far better than many native speakers, so you now face the same challenge all us native speaking writers do, which is to hone your writing skills 'til they're sharp enough to bleed, find your voice, and then give yourself to getting that first novel penned.
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@Lengel543
Bah humbug, the other answers should convince you that you can do it.
Another story to remember is that Samuel Beckett was an Irishman who lived in Paris and wrote in English and French.
I am not convinced you need to live in an English speaking place. And if you did, would you choose Goa or Singapore? Botswana or Cardiff? Nova Scotia or Dunedin?
Whatever you do don't become a bad copy of a New York or London writer.
If you can't live in a city of native English speakers you can mix with them in your local community. While they may not know all the latest tween slang, they will provide an unique and authentic voice for your characters.
A writer writes.
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@Murphy332
If you have a story, you can tell it in any language you know well enough to communicate. Living in English-speaking environment for a considerable number of years would give you a tremendous advantage in terms of getting a feel of the language, but I believe that you can do without it, providing that you do run your lines by a native speaker, who is a friend and supporter, and not the one who told you that you will never be able to write in the language which is not your own.
Send that person a signed copy of your published novel, when you get the author's batch from Penguin Random House.
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