Is Being a Writer Possible?

Alright, well, I'm a long time lurker of 4chan. But I never really paid much attention to the text boards because they're filtered out anyways usually and fuck, wheres my porn?

Anyways, I want to ask you guys something. You guys seem to know your shit about budding writings, how to get started and stuff and I can only assume you get shit on every couple minutes about someone wanting to publish their twilight fanficiton or some shit about Goku and Hitler and Anne Frank.

Anyways, I'm a history major and I've pretty much always had a fascination with military history. The Seven Years War and the use of Oblique battle order by Prussian Infantry? Know it and examples. The doctrine of Blitzkrieg and being the synthesis of massed breakthrough, isolation of strong points, destruction of rear areas and perfection of combined arms? Fuck child's play. The use of Pike and Musket Terico's during the Renaissance period to negate the powerful full plate horses of the nobility? Hell I love that shit. Urban warfare infantry tactics used to negate the advantages of heavy armor by isolating them from their supporting infantry and destroying them with concealed and small hunter killer teams? I think you get the idea, I'm a history junky and I can't get enough of the shit.

Anyways, -if- I ever become a writer, which I really doubt, I want to be a science fiction writer. But not fucking death rays, not fucking lightsabers, and not fucking mary sues all over the place wiping out whole armies with their dashing good looks. My writing style has been pretty much formed by my research in history and my many readings of soldier memoirs, which I find fascinating.

If I became a writer, I'd want to write like Jerry Pournelle's Falkenberg's Legions books or maybe something in the vein or Robert Heinlein's Starship Troopers, probably much less visionary and much less football though. I'd probably end up writing works that dealt a lot with political intrigue, social change, cultural differences and realistic military sci-fi that probably isn't a grand adventure, but instead just the view of a grunt that's stuck in the middle of it. Well, not completely, but I'd love to have one of the characters I focus on in a story to be a grunt, brings a human feel to the ground and whatever. 

So I mean, can that even be a viable field to write in? And even if it is, where the hell do I start? I write short stories a lot and shit, and my friends say they're good (WOW I AM TEH WINRAR), but I seriously don't think very highly of my writing yet, I'm pretty fucking young after all. I'm in no rush to get into the writing industry, and I'm not thinking I'm going to make a couple million dollars because I set on Microsoft word and punched out 50,000 words. But if I want to see if I'm made for this or not, how do I get started?

tl;dr I suck cocks.

The simple answer is: Yes.

First of all I'd like to say its no easy task, to write, and to write well. It takes dedication and a fuckton of hard work. If all you want is to be famous by writing books then your enthusiasm is misplaced and you will likely fail. I'm sure you've heard it time and time again: writing isn't fucking easy.

That said, if you really have the drive and the imagination to go forth with the amazing task of writing a novel, then I invite you to Absolute Write forums at www.AbsoluteWrite.com/forums. There you will find thousands of writers in all fields, from Fantasy/Sci-fi to Non-fiction and Childrens books. You will also find they are very helpful towards budding writers and will be more than glad to critique your work.

If you do post your work, though, I suggest you have a thick skin. If you don't have one, or just think you do, you'll have to grow one. People there won't kiss your ass and tell you your story is the greatest thing since Wonderbread. If you need a lot of work, which I suspect you will, starting of, they won't hesitate to tell you so.

First protip would be to stop getting your friends and family to read your work. They will always tell you your slog is great, even if they don't think so. Even if they do, they probably just don't know any better.

You can also join us on the IRC channel at irc.starchat.net #absolutewrite. You can also email me at my email address listed if you want further counseling.

Note: I am neither a published author, nor am I an expert in the field. I have been writing since I was 11 (I am 20 now). I've written a few short stories, short screenplays, and one novel, which I am editing currently. Also have a novel WIP and a full-length screenplay WIP. As you see, I don't pretend to be better than I am.

Its good that you aren't satisfied with your work. The minute you are, you've lost the game. I hope to see you around the writing community.