Play in the Minors First
Want to write? REALLY, competitively write? Play in the Literary Magazines. Submit short works to them – poetry, fiction, non-fiction, essays, whatever your “bent.” Literary Magazine acceptance of your work ranges anywhere from a 2% to a 20% chance of acceptance and publication. You will be COMPETING for the typical “two copies upon publication.” But...
...if you DO publish in the “little mags,” you will have learned how to use and edit English at the level required in a novel.
I was glad to pubb in non-paying mags, just to find out I was writing stuff that somebody else was willing to put in their mag. Tons of the little mags are published by the English Department of a College or University. Serious people working on their MFA. Some other mags like the now defunct Fleas on the Dog just love to see the strangeness of what people will send them(I mean, I did). The typical “little mag” caveat for what you submit, “not-previously-published” is a lot to ask, but I didn't care. I just wanted to build a publishing history any way I could.
The paying magazines are few. They are like Major League Baseball. In the Minors, I wrote and published for three seasons, got signed to 9 different “teams.” Made me a believer in myself. I have a novel launching in the Spring - and I don’t mean self-published. 🤪