Make sure that you can find the joy in it. All the actors that really make it are still just tickled about the process of acting. Only that joy will carry you through everything else. back

The best advice: Don't quit your day job. You need to support yourself while you're learning to write and following the long, difficult path to getting published. Master a work-skill that is always in demand: be an electrician, a plumber, some pursuit that you don't bring home with you at night, as you would a profession involving optimum mental and emotional strength and demanding long hours; this frees you to write at night and on weekends. Take classes in writing wherever you can.

First, take Robert McKee's three-day course: Story. He gives it in Los Angeles, New York, San Francisco, Dallas, London, everywhere. Check his website, www.mckeestory.com.

Write your characters' personal stories and get to know them intimately before you begin your novel. If you don't find a character interesting and credible, neither will your readers. Don't try to tell everything up front. Relax into your story. Your first draft is going to change a great deal when you revise it, so don't torture every sentence to death as you write - get your story down even if it's not perfect. Don't send your manuscript out to a publisher 'half-baked'.

I know every author says this, but honestly the best advice is to keep writing. Finish a book, revise it, research the market and send some query letters.

For writers: read, read, read and write. For illustrators: look, look, look and draw, read, and then draw some more. For both, the first draft or sketch is just the start. Be prepared to re-do and polish your work until it really is the best you can make it. For all artists, try to spend time alone not doing anything in particular.

Think about why the reader/viewer will be looking at this page. To be entertained? To be provoked into thinking differently? To view their world differently? To learn something? Then use visual clues like colour, shape and design to make that happen.

Sadly, becoming a professional photographer really reqires nothing more than a camera and waking up one day and saying, "I'm gonna be a professional photographer!" Then you con somebody into paying you to take pictures of their ugly wedding/kids/selves and you're on the road. You should develop your own style and try to make images that people will know who it came from. Stay honest and put your personality in anything you do.

With that in mind, I would advise young authors to concentrate on studying the craft of writing. Find your writing voice and expand your vocabulary. The beauty of possessing literary talent is that improvement is progressive if you write each day and open yourself to constructive criticism. Do not publish until you are certain that you have compiled the best book you ever could. Once the book is written, your new job as a marketer begins. So learn all you can and stay abreast on current events.

Art is pretty subjective. Some people will love your stuff and some people will criticize it indefinitely. In the end I think it's what you think that is important. And if sharing your work with others makes you happy, then that's all that really matters.

Follow your creative instincts and stay true to yourself. Don't try to paint like anyone else but instead nurture your own individual style. If you keep at it and allow yourself to become confident with your chosen medium(s), it will show in the final presentation. I think artists oftentimes get too easily frustrated and give up. I've seen this happen too many times.

Answer: My advice for aspiring authors is persistence, persistence, persistence. There are many talented writers, both published and unpublished, but all the published authors share the quality of persistence. They do not quit when faced with adversity of rejection.

ANSWER: We provide a Pro Advice section for Silver, Platinum and Elite members where you can get personal advice from top pro models, agents and photographers. We regret that due to the number of requests we receive daily, we can not give Basic Members personal advice about modeling or acting potential via email. However, we do provide a Modeling Advice section, which is full of advice for models, actors and parents.

Yes, I do. Eventually, this site will have a whole section devoted to aspiring actors. My immediate advice is: study, study, study. Read the classic plays and see the great movies. And for the love of Bob, study! And read Backstage. Get yourself into some sort of acting program or workshop. Just avoid anything that tells you they'll give you a free book by L.Ron Hubbard. It's a scheme to recruit you into Scientology.

Yes. Read. Read. Read. Then write, write, write. And don't try to write what you think might be the next "trend". Write about what matters to you. As a reader, what I respond to in any book is the passion with which the subject matter is handled, and the individual "voice". You could tell me the most boring story in the world, but if you're passionate enough about it, and your voice is unique, you'd probably keep me riveted.

I believe strongly that imitation is not the highest form of flattery, because truly unique individuals can never be imitated. But you can learn from them, so long as you realize that you are a different person, with your own dreams, backgrounds, and priorities. Understand the differences and extrapolate from their experiences and aspirations to your own unique life. Be careful, however, about accepting anyone's advice - including my own - on the basis of "years of experience.

First, don't forget to find the fun in your writing. The more interest and inspiration you have while you're writing a story, poem, or article, the more interesting it will be for the people who read what you write. So, look for the things that will spice up your writing for you.

Pick up a pencil and draw!! I think any one can be a good artist, whether they have a "natural talent" for it or not. Anyone can learn the mechanics of drawing, after that, you let your imagination guide your hand. I think if you're in school, and there is an art programme available, you could do worse than to take the course.

Never stop learning. Learn all you can about the craft. Know what you're doing. Read books about it, take classes, read other authors, do all you can to develop your skill. Did you notice I didn't say, Never give up? Persistence comes second to learning. If you don't know what you're doing, you can persist until you're dead and never be a writer. I still consider myself a student of writing; I'm still learning.

If they are in their twenties or thirties I advise them to get a life first. Get a real job, earn a living, travel, fall in love, have a family, read a lot. Learn something about life and death. Any writer unlucky enough to get published very young is almost certainly headed for long term trouble, the experience of Gore Vidal and John Updike to the contrary. Daniel Silva is an excellent example to follow as are Michael Connally, John Sanford and Karl Hiassen.

Sing all the time. Develop your instrument - your voice - over time through practice and performance. Join a good choir and perform as much classical rep. as you can. Keep your eyes and ears open to what the instrumentalists do - both on and off the stand. Learn by watching respectfully first and try to get a sense of what s given situation is really asking for.