People think that you must have a journalism degree to become a freelance writer. However, note that several writers do it successfully without any academic background in English or journalism. So do you need a degree to become a writer? The answer is no. You only need to be able to write to qualify as a freelancer.
How to Become a Writer?
As it is in the above explanation, you don’t need a degree to become a writer. Writing depends on your ability to write. Not all the successful writer has a degree. And those with a degree, they are not all graduate from a journalism school. Well, some companies may need a degree to qualify for their writing job opportunity. When it comes to freelance writing, blogging, writing novels, and nonfiction books, you don’t need a degree. It is all about your knowledge and skills in writing.
Academic qualification is not very necessary in the writing field. First, you need to love writing and have the passion and willingness to write on the topic you select. Most successful writers learn the skills through mentorship.
A degree in English or journalism can make you break into the writing field quickly. You can excel because of the skills you have in writing but not the degree as a prerequisite.
If storytelling is your hobby, your college degree is not necessary to start writing novels. If you understand how to write and are a good storyteller, you can write and finish a story with your persistence.
1. Learn Writing
Whether you have a degree or not, you must learn the writing skills before becoming a writer. You were born not knowing how to write. That is why you will need someone to train you the writing skills. Once you acquire the skills, you can perfect them through practices, blogging, and reading. There are other methods of learning skills, such as attending writing workshops, among others. Regardless of how you get the skills, provided you can gain the skills in your best learning style, you are god to go. But the bottom line of the matter remains that you do not need a degree to learn how to write.
2. Perfecting Your Writing Skills Through Practice
Honing and developing your skills takes a lot of practice. Though writing skills may come naturally as a passion to most writers, they will need to polish their skills to the level they can use to make money. Through practice, you master grammar, spellings, and how to edit and produce quality work. Continue reading and writing on the topics you like to perfect your skills. You may also write your assignment and submit for various competition and opportunities to grow your skills.
3. Enroll for A Course That Will Grow Your Skills
Although writing requires no academic qualifications, various courses can help you grow t your skills. Ensure that you are selecting a relevant and essential lesson for you. Read through the areas it covers and duration, including reputability of the institution, before enrolling yourself.
4. Develop A Portfolio
Most clients and magazine publishers would wish to see your portfolio before giving a writing job. They would want to know what you have achieved with your writing skills and your work’s testimonials. Select based samples and group them that will make you stand as an expert writer. Creating a portfolio is not that easy. You will need to write pieces for free to begin your work.
Conclusion
You do not need to have a degree to become a writer. You can get the writing skills through other training methods and marge them with your passion for becoming a successful writer. All you need is interest and wellness to learn new skills and develop them through practice.