<P> In 1832 , at age 20 , Dickens was energetic and increasingly self - confident . He enjoyed mimicry and popular entertainment , lacked a clear , specific sense of what he wanted to become , and yet knew he wanted fame . Drawn to the theatre -- he became an early member of the Garrick -- he landed an acting audition at Covent Garden , where the manager George Bartley and the actor Charles Kemble were to see him . Dickens prepared meticulously and decided to imitate the comedian Charles Mathews , but ultimately he missed the audition because of a cold . Before another opportunity arose , he had set out on his career as a writer . In 1833 he submitted his first story , `` A Dinner at Poplar Walk '' , to the London periodical Monthly Magazine . William Barrow , a brother of his mother , offered him a job on The Mirror of Parliament and he worked in the House of Commons for the first time early in 1832 . He rented rooms at Furnival 's Inn and worked as a political journalist , reporting on Parliamentary debates , and he travelled across Britain to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle . His journalism , in the form of sketches in periodicals , formed his first collection of pieces , published in 1836 : Sketches by Boz -- Boz being a family nickname he employed as a pseudonym for some years . Dickens apparently adopted it from the nickname `` Moses '' , which he had given to his youngest brother Augustus Dickens , after a character in Oliver Goldsmith 's The Vicar of Wakefield . When pronounced by anyone with a head cold , `` Moses '' became `` Boses '' -- later shortened to Boz . Dickens 's own name was considered `` queer '' by a contemporary critic , who wrote in 1849 : `` Mr Dickens , as if in revenge for his own queer name , does bestow still queerer ones upon his fictitious creations . '' He contributed to and edited journals throughout his literary career . In January 1835 the Morning Chronicle launched an evening edition , under the editorship of the Chronicle 's music critic , George Hogarth . Hogarth invited Dickens to contribute Street Sketches and Dickens became a regular visitor to his Fulham house , excited by Hogarth 's friendship with a hero of his , Walter Scott , and enjoying the company of Hogarth 's three daughters -- Georgina , Mary , and nineteen - year - old Catherine . </P>
<P> In 1832 , at age 20 , Dickens was energetic and increasingly self - confident . He enjoyed mimicry and popular entertainment , lacked a clear , specific sense of what he wanted to become , and yet knew he wanted fame . Drawn to the theatre -- he became an early member of the Garrick -- he landed an acting audition at Covent Garden , where the manager George Bartley and the actor Charles Kemble were to see him . Dickens prepared meticulously and decided to imitate the comedian Charles Mathews , but ultimately he missed the audition because of a cold . Before another opportunity arose , he had set out on his career as a writer . In 1833 he submitted his first story , `` A Dinner at Poplar Walk '' , to the London periodical Monthly Magazine . William Barrow , a brother of his mother , offered him a job on The Mirror of Parliament and he worked in the House of Commons for the first time early in 1832 . He rented rooms at Furnival 's Inn and worked as a political journalist , reporting on Parliamentary debates , and he travelled across Britain to cover election campaigns for the Morning Chronicle . His journalism , in the form of sketches in periodicals , formed his first collection of pieces , published in 1836 : Sketches by Boz -- Boz being a family nickname he employed as a pseudonym for some years . Dickens apparently adopted it from the nickname `` Moses '' , which he had given to his youngest brother Augustus Dickens , after a character in Oliver Goldsmith 's The Vicar of Wakefield . When pronounced by anyone with a head cold , `` Moses '' became `` Boses '' -- later shortened to Boz . Dickens 's own name was considered `` queer '' by a contemporary critic , who wrote in 1849 : `` Mr Dickens , as if in revenge for his own queer name , does bestow still queerer ones upon his fictitious creations . '' He contributed to and edited journals throughout his literary career . In January 1835 the Morning Chronicle launched an evening edition , under the editorship of the Chronicle 's music critic , George Hogarth . Hogarth invited Dickens to contribute Street Sketches and Dickens became a regular visitor to his Fulham house , excited by Hogarth 's friendship with a hero of his , Walter Scott , and enjoying the company of Hogarth 's three daughters -- Georgina , Mary , and nineteen - year - old Catherine . </P>
when did charles dickens start his writing career
when did charles dickens start his writing career
In 1833
In 1833