Becoming A Writer/Breaking Into The Business

I'm going to assume for some reason that at least a few of the posters here either have experience in the field, or have researched it.

How did you get into it? How did you manage to get published? How does someone with no experience get jobs as a freelancer?

I know, it's kind of a stupid thing to ask here, but I've felt kind of overwhelmed in trying to get into it myself. I'm often told I'm a good storyteller, and I describe and explain things well, and I do enjoy writing. How am I supposed to compete with people with teams of writers who each went to college specifically for the writing field though?

>>9
In the US, you better have an agent, yeah. introducing yourself to one is same as introducing yourself to a publisher, though. Just beware:
- you never ever pay to you agent;
- like, never ever pay a penny to him from your pocket, hear?
- he takes 15% of everything he earns you with your works;
- he mightsuggest 20% - you decide;
- she might suggest 25% - agree only if she also signs a contract to perform daily fellatio on you and her face looks like it's worth it.

In some countries, though, publishers prefer dealing with writers themselves. Anyway, the process of getting a publisher and hiring an agent really is similar:
1. You give them your finished work.
2. You wait for up to three months, perhaps monthly reminding about your existence.
3. You sign a contract if they like your works, and then never ever have to do anything else to get the work published.

Agent might give suggestions as to how change something in your work, especially if it's your first work. These suggestions might or might not be handy, obviously; but, really, they often give pretty good advice.