Eight Top Writing Tips from the authors at The Edge

During school visits we are often asked to give advice to aspiring young writers. With that in mind, each Edge author has agreed to supply one nugget of writing wisdom from their personal bag of tricks.

You may notice that some of the suggestions contradict each other! That's OK – all writers work in different ways. Try them out and see what works for you. We hope you find them useful.

We'd love to hear your writing tips too, so please leave us a comment below.

Sara Grant
author of Dark Parties

"Never give up! I always wanted to be a writer but never thought I could because my spelling was appalling. My creative writing assignments were returned covered in red ink. (This was in the time long ago before personal computers and spell check.) But I kept writing and reading and learning. If you want to get published, your way will be paved with rejection. JK Rowling was rejected something like 20 times before she found the right publisher. Some really amazing writers give up too soon. Getting published takes practice, patience, persistence – and a little luck. If you want to be a published writer, my best advice is never, ever give up!" 

Miriam Halahmy
author of Hidden and Illegal

"Read until your eyes ache. I wanted to become a writer as soon as I could read. I wanted to create my own stories and reading was one of the most important things in my life. But to find out how to become a writer you need to read as widely as possible. If you want to write paranormal romance, read political fiction; if you want to write thrillers, read chick lit. To find your voice as a writer you need to read across every genre and every style. While you are reading you have already embarked upon your career as a writer."

Keren David
author of When I Was Joe,
Almost True and Lia's
Guide to Winning the Lottery 

"Take time to daydream. Switch off the television, the computer, the phone, the X Box. Spend time in your own head, thinking about the characters you've created. It's the best way to let a story grow." 

Bryony Pearce
author of Angel's Fury

"Read everything, read like mad, read stuff you know you like and stuff you think you might not like, look at history books, autobiographies, biographies as well as fiction - they're great sources of inspiration and show you another way of writing.
Then, when you want to start writing ... stop reading. Take a break from other people's work and give your own ideas a chance to properly percolate. 

Don't compare yourself to other writers. Just get plotting, get writing and see how far you get."

Paula Rawsthorne
author of The Truth
About Celia Frost

"My advice is to enter reputable writing competitions! Look for them on the internet, in teen magazines; ask your school librarian, look on the BBC website. It could be a competition to write a poem, a piece of flash fiction, a short story, the opener of a novel- whatever it is will provide a great motivator to get you writing! Competitions usually give you a theme, a word count and a deadline. All these elements help kick-start your work. It's great to know that just by entering, your work will be read by people who know what they are on about. When I'd just started writing, I entered a BBC short story competition and won – this gave my 'writing confidence' a tremendous boost and spurred me on to keep writing; entering competitions could do the same for you."

Savita Kalhan
author of The Long Weekend

"If you're stuck for ideas about what to write - write about what makes you angry, or happy, or sad, or fearful, or excited, or moves you in some other way, and then read it back to yourself, or even read it aloud and record it and listen to it. If you find it moving it means you are in sync with your character's feelings, and the chances are other readers will be engaged with the story too." 

Dave Cousins
author of
15 Days Without a Head

"Think with your hands! Work out your story by writing. You can sit for hours chewing the end of a pen trying to plan the perfect opening or work out what happens next. If you simply start writing, solutions will often present themselves on the page. 

Re-drafting Rules! Don’t worry too much on your first draft. Give you story space to emerge. Have some fun, try things out, allow your characters to misbehave! In the next draft, you can decide what works and then start to craft the structure and the words." 

Katie Dale
author of
Someone Else's Life

"I agree - read read read as much as you can, and enter writing competitions - the feedback and confidence boost can be invaluable, plus mentioning a competition win or commendation in a covering letter can really open doors. Five of the eight Edge authors were chosen as winners of the SCBWI Undiscovered Voices competition, which provided a huge boost to our careers. Plus, I recommend trying to write in a range of different genres and styles. When I was first starting out I was asked to write a short story for the How To Be A Boy anthology, and I freaked out "How can I write as a boy? I've never been a boy!" But actually it was incredibly liberating, great fun, and really expanded my imagination. So if you usually find yourself writing paranormal romance with a girl narrator, try writing a dystopian adventure with a boy narrator, or historical fiction from the POV of a dog! It might seem daunting at first, but give it a try - you never know where it'll take you!"

We'd love to hear your writing tips too, so please leave us a comment below.

Going too far by Bryony Pearce

I’m writing my new book, it’s called Wavefunction and no, I don’t yet have a publisher for it.  But I’m still writing.  Hope springs eternal.

The thing is, it’s getting dark (and I’m not talking about the weather).  I hadn’t quite realised how dark the book was going to get when I set out (I’m a plotter, but do allow things to get away from me on occasion).  This book makes Angel’s Fury look like a Rainbow Magic story. 

So far I’ve got burglary, slavery, sex and cannibalism and I’m only on chapter thirteen.  Edgy?  Well, yes, but at the moment edgy is also how I’d describe my mood. 

I’m excited about this book. It’s really, really fun to write (and yes, that probably does raise concerns about my mental health) and I think it raises some wonderful questions about freedom and justice and man’s place in the world.  But I’m starting to ask myself, what is the point in writing it, if my agent is just going to wing it back to me covered in red pen?  Or worse, tell me to scrap it altogether because it’s just too dark.

My main character witnesses teenage sex, eats a man-burger, then fails to stop his girlfriend being sent off to be eaten … have I gone too far?

Is a book going too far if it leaves you thinking?  If it stays with you?

But then again, maybe this won’t leave the reader thinking.  If all they can focus on is the man-burger, does my message get lost?

I don’t think I’m writing to be gratuitous, I think I’m writing what I’m writing to get my point across, but am I having too much fun?

Am I going too far?

We’ve talked about how rubbish writers can be about knowing what the boundaries are.  How things in Angel’s Fury I thought would be fine, turned out to be problems and vice versa, so I am clearly a poor judge. 

Maybe the man-burger will slide by my agent’s red pen.  Maybe not. 

The question is, do I stop writing while I’m at 30,000 words and reign it in; save myself the heartache of a total rewrite when it comes straight back to me?  Or do I keep writing and enjoying myself? 

Maybe I should embrace the darkness and hope (is that oxymoronic, or just moronic?).

I’m getting edgy about going too far.

Anyone else have that feeling ... or any advice?

New Book Announcement! Savita Kalhan

I am delighted to announce that my next novel for teens and young adults will be published in spring 2013 by Frances Lincoln Children’s Books. It is called AMNESIA, and it’s about a fourteen year old boy who wakes up in a hospital bed with no memory. He doesn’t even recognise his mother.

The inspiration for this book came from some unusual places. A friend had recommended The Man who Mistook His Wife for A Hat by Oliver Sacks, to me, which I was reading late one evening. The TV was on in the background. I often read like this, and, yes, you might think that I can’t possibly concentrate on both at the same time, but actually I seem to manage quite well. I grew up the eldest of seven kids and learnt to read with constant noise in the background, so it’s an old habit that I can’t seem to break. I went upstairs at some point and heard my teenager talking in his sleep – he only does this around midnight and only for a few moments.

By the next day I had the germ of an idea for a book.

In The Importance of Being Earnest, Oscar Wilde wrote, Memory is the diary that we all carry about with us... Losing your memory is like losing yourself, your identity. You are completely reliant on others to help you fill in your past.

By the afternoon I had written the opening of AMNESIA.

Ideas and inspirations for stories often spring from the strangest places. Where do you get your ideas from?

Perfectly Imperfect

When it comes to creating characters,
EDGE author Sara Grant prefers imperfection

I’m not interested in perfect. It’s something I’ll never be. And anyway...perfect is boring.

I want to write about characters who are perfectly imperfect. I don’t like villains who are purely evil nor do I like flawless heroes.

I tried to craft every character in Dark Parties with a light and dark side. My main character Neva accidently kisses her best friend’s boyfriend at a party in the pitch black and then proceeds to fall in love with him. (A definite no-no in the BFF handbook.) Neva’s father is the Minister of Ancient History and part of the establishment that keeps the country in Dark Parties locked away  under an electrified dome. The country is decaying and the citizens are dying but Neva’s father believes that he is doing what is necessary to protect his country and its heritage.

If this is all you ever know about Neva and her father then I can understand why you might not like them. But if you read on, you’ll find characters struggling with guilt and misinformation. By the end of the book, I hope you’ll be cheering for both characters.

I like to write in the first person so that my narrator’s (and readers’) perception of another character can evolve. It’s happened to us all. The first impression of someone can be absolutely wrong. I have dear friends who I didn’t click with immediately and made fast friends only to discover that our connection wasn’t sustainable.

A FBI profiler came to speak to a college class I was taking titled Murder in America. He said that everyone has three lives – their public, their private and their secret lives. Your public life is what everyone knows about you. Your private life is what only the people closest to you know. And your secret life is what only you know about yourself. The profiler said that he must uncover the three lives of a victim to solve the crime. I think writers should create these layers for each of their characters.

Similarly in his book The Plot Thickens: 8 Ways to Bring Fiction to Life, Noah Lukeman encourages writers to give each character inner and outer lives with both positive and negative traits.

I heard a literary agent joke that to make your villain more believable all you need to do is give him/her a pet. An axe murder who loves his pet guinea pig can’t be all bad, right? Give your villain a heart – or at least make them care about someone or something passionately. Know what has driven him/her to do bad things. Alternatively give your hero a dirty little secret or a dark side.

If you get the chance to read Dark Parties, I hope you are constantly surprised by its cast of characters. I tried to show the readers my characters layer by good, bad and twisted layer.

We all have secrets. We all behave badly. We have people who love us and people who, well, don’t. We all have bad habits and make mistakes. It makes us human and interesting. Perfection is over rated and not really attainable. I prefer a perfectly imperfect character, friend and reflection in the mirror.  

Sara Grant’s debut novel DARK PARTIES -- a dystopian thriller for young adults – is published on the Orion’s Indigo imprint. Find out more about Sara and her book at www.sara-grant.com.


Don't forget to enter the EDGE's contest!


You can enter the draw in one of three ways:


1. Leave a comment at the end of this post with your name and email address. (We suggest you use the words 'at' and 'dot' rather than symbols. Thanks.)


2. Follow @EdgeWriters on Twitter and RT this competition link to your Twitter friends


3. Visit the Edge Facebook Page and LIKE us! Then SHARE the competition link with your Facebook friends.


Thanks and good luck!


The closing date for the competition is midnight, 31st March 2012 and unfortunately due to postage costs, we can only accept entries from the UK on this occasion.

THE JOY OF RESEARCH

Paula Rawsthorne shares her experience of researching her second novel.

Of all the aspects of novel writing, research may not immediately spring to mind as being  the most enjoyable.  However, my experience of researching my new novel has been exciting, as well as being tough, emotional and thought provoking.  The process of doing my research has also had a fringe benefit of making me feel all glowy towards my fellow human beings, who have been so very kind and generous in helping me.

My novel (that I’m still busily working on), is another stand- alone thriller.  I love writing this genre because I enjoy trying to create a combination of complex, engaging characters and twisting, turning stories.   My stories require research as, even though they are fiction, I want what happens in them to be within the realms of possibility.  Also, even though I don’t specify where my novel takes place, I want my settings to feel authentic and real.   Sometimes this can involve leg work and I’ll visit a location and soak up the atmosphere (unfortunately, my story isn’t set in the Bahamas- maybe next time).

However, as you know, much research can be done without any travel or even human interaction.  Much of it is just between you and the internet, or books, or journals.  I find that even this can be exciting (or maybe I'm just over-excitable) as you uncover layer after layer of information and are sent down paths that you’d never contemplated. 

Of course, it’s very easy to get carried away with research and spend far too much time on it instead of actually writing your story.  Also, you must be careful how you use all that lovely information.  As a reader, the last thing you want to do is to plough through swathes of information in a work of fiction; so, as a writer, you have to make sure that what you include is essential to the narrative and is weaved into the action.  You may have spent ages on your research but you must be disciplined enough to know what to omit.

The kind of research I enjoy undertaking most of all is approaching experts in particular fields and  pumping them for information.

I’ve found that people have been incredibly generous with their time and gone out of their way to help me.   I’m lucky to have friends in all walks of life and they were great at providing me with facts in their areas of expertise.  Although I researched extensively for my first book, The Truth about Celia Frost, with my second book, I've felt more confident about approaching experts that I don’t know, and asking them for information.

My latest novel has involved talking to coroners, sailors, doctors, police, runners, dockers and professors in America who are experts in a field that I can’t divulge (because it will give too much away).  I’ve found it fascinating and their insider views and knowledge have been invaluable.  For instance, I’ve now seen first-hand, what happens in a coroner’s court and behind the scenes - you may be able to see this kind of thing on T.V., but there is no substitute for feeling the emotion of being there. 

I’m so grateful that all these very busy people have been so patient with my specific (and often bizarre) questions.  People have taken me through procedures, sent me academic papers, drawn me diagrams and even stood up and demonstrated things.   I told one poor expert that I needed ten minutes of his time and nearly two hours later I was still interrogating him in my kitchen! 

I can’t thank them enough for all their input and I hope that they will feel that I’ve put it to effective use in my new thriller.

So, as a writer, what aspect of research do you most enjoy?

As a reader, have you read any works of fiction were the research has blown you away or, alternatively, been overbearing?

www.celiafrost.co.uk 

WIN a set of EIGHT SIGNED NOVELS from the EDGE!

In the spirit of World Book Day and to celebrate one year of The EDGE we are giving away a set of eight signed novels, one from each Edge Author. (That's over £50 worth of cutting edge teen fiction for FREE!)


You can enter the draw in one of three ways:


1. Leave a comment at the end of this post with your name and email address. (We suggest you use the words 'at' and 'dot' rather than symbols. Thanks.)


2. Follow @EdgeWriters on Twitter and RT this competition link to your Twitter friends


3. Visit the Edge Facebook Page and LIKE us! Then SHARE the competition link with your Facebook friends.


Thanks and good luck!


The closing date for the competition is midnight, 31st March 2012 and unfortunately due to postage costs, we can only accept entries from the UK on this occasion.

ILLEGAL : the soundtrack...by Miriam Halahmy

Every novel has its own soundtrack. In Lord of the Flies by William Golding there is the roar of the ocean and the buzz of incessant flies. The Secret Garden by Frances Hodgson Burnett moves from the miserable sound of winter rain against the windows to rising birdsong as spring unfolds.

My new novel Illegal (Meadowside Books, March 2012) is the second book in my cycle of three novels set on Hayling Island. So the soundtrack includes the sounds of the Island – the tide pulling over the pebbles on the beach, the wind in the pines, the rattle of the shrouds from the boats moored in the channels. But each of the three books in the cycle has its own particular soundtrack.

Illegal has a soundtrack to match the mood and action of the book. Fifteen year old Lindy’s family have been rocked by the death of two year old Jemma. Mum doesn’t get dressed anymore and sits round all day drinking, Dad spends his time in the bookies, the two older brothers are in prison and nine year old Sean nags for food. Vulnerable and lonely, Lindy thinks her cousin Colin has come to rescue her. But she soon realises he has trapped her into the shadowy and dangerous world of international drug dealing. Lindy is terrified she will end up in prison like her brothers. Support comes from a surprising quarter, fellow misfit fifteen year old Karl, who is mute. But Karl is resourceful and intelligent. Together they embark on a desperate path to ensure Lindy’s freedom.

There are lots of illegal things in this book. Karl rides around on a motorbike, underage.  The soundtrack fills up with a variety of effects from roars to putters to the squeal of brakes. Karl's friend Jimmy, who is deaf and communicates only with sign language, rides a 1953 Triumph with a side car. The volume of motorbike noise goes through the roof when a group of Hells Angel wrinklies on Harley Davidsons rush past them near the pier.

Lindy’s job is to look after cousin Colin’s cannabis farm in a house down the back lanes on Hayling Island. But Lindy is spooked by all sorts of noises in the house, creaking and scraping, thuds on the floor upstairs, with the sound of the motorbike in the lane outside. Lindy half thinks the house is haunted and has a very nasty experience one evening. 

Part of the soundtrack of this novel is silence. Karl doesn't speak at all and Lindy finds herself very drawn to Karl’s silent world.  Why waste words? Lindy wonders. Probably helps the environment if we breathe out less. The problems both Lindy and Karl experience from their difficult home backgrounds reflect my experience as a special needs teacher for 25 years. I worked with young people who were mute for all sorts of psychological reasons. Mutism isolates young people from their peers, holds back their education and is a difficult condition to treat and overcome. But I was also interested in the whole issue of communication and young people. Lindy enjoys Karl’s silence. Most of her verbal exchanges with her family, her teachers, the other kids at school, the drug dealers, are negative, In Karl’s silent world she feels that they can almost read each other’s minds and this helps to strengthen the growing bond between them.

My soundtrack flows between the engine sounds of bikes and motorboats, the cries of seagulls and the rush of the waves over the beach.  There is the spitting of eggs frying, mobile ringtones and laptop start-up sounds, the crack of gunfire and the gloop gloop of mud in the harbour. And in the third novel, Stuffed, Ian Dury and the Blockheads play in the background.

What is the soundtrack to your novel?

www.miriamhalahmy.com