WRITING TIPS #5 by PAULA RAWSTHORNE

It’s Week 5 of the EDGE WRITING TIPS series! Each week an Edge author shares tips that work for them.  We hope you find them useful!

This week ‘The Truth About Celia Frost’ author, Paula Rawsthorne shares her thoughts on finding what works for you.

First thing to say is that we’re offering tips not rules as there aren’t rules that all writers should follow.  One writer’s rules don’t fit all.  So my tip would be to gather tips and ‘rules’ from the various writers that you admire (and some you don’t) and then see what works for you.

 

Elmore Leonard

A few years ago ‘The Guardian’ ran a tremendous piece for writers.  Following Elmore Leonard’s ‘10 Rules of Writing’ (which are included), they asked a host of brilliant writers for their personal 10 rules.  Have a look at the results and be inspired.

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/ten-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-one

http://www.theguardian.com/books/2010/feb/20/10-rules-for-writing-fiction-part-two

 

The very process of deciding what tips and rules work for you can be thought-provoking, stimulating and productive.  It can help you work out how you, as an individual, write best. Your approach to writing maybe very much influenced by your personality, so, for example, if you’re an energetic type, you may produce your best writing whilst jogging around the park and plotting in your head.  If you are disciplined and thrive on routine, you may work best having undisturbed, set hours to write.  If the writing process feels like pulling teeth, maybe you need to take regular breaks to chill by watching ‘Homes Under the Hammer’!  

I recently stumbled upon a great programme on BBC Radio 4 – ‘The Invisible College’  Monday 4pm.  There are only three episodes in total and I recommend that you catch them all on iPlayerRadio.  These half hour, mini lectures by Dr. Cathy FitzGerald (who has a fabulously soothing voice) use advise from great writers and poets, dead and alive.  We hear, amongst others, Graham Greene, Maya Angelou and William Golding talking about how they develop character, style, plot etc.  It’s fascinating to learn about their different approaches to writing and their methods and attitudes towards their work.  As you listen, certain advice may chime with you whilst you may disagree with others- but that’s good.  It all helps.

Maya Angelou

If you’re looking for tips on whether you ought to plot your novel beforehand or just go with the flow, you’ll find plenty of writers arguing for one way or the other but you have to follow what works for you.  So, for instance, I’m not a writer who just starts the novel and sees where it takes me.  I write thrillers and by their very nature this genre tends to be tightly plotted, with intricate, twisting storylines.  That’s why I find plotting essential and, luckily, I enjoy this aspect of writing.  I’m a low tech kind of woman and I use a (real) cork board and revision cards to help work out my plot.  I think of it like a crime investigation; trying to piece the case, clues and evidence together.

I write the bones of each scene on a separate revision card and pin them onto the cork board in sequence.  I then spend time studying what’s on the board and seeing what works best; it can lead to shifting scenes around, discarding some, creating new ones, taking the plot in a different direction.  I think that a cork board full of scenes can be a useful tool no matter what genre you’re writing. 

However, even after I’ve plotted my story the beauty of creative writing is how the storyline and characters start to evolve once you get stuck into the writing. It’s exciting when you think you’ve got a scene sorted and then suddenly you realise there’s another, better route you can take it.

 

So, write as much as you can and work out what kind of writer you are and what approach and tips work for you.

If you’ve got any thoughts or questions please feel free to leave a comment below.  Good luck and keep writing.

 

WRITING TIPS #4 ...Take a break....by Miriam Halahmy

I know that everyone says, To be a writer you need to write.

And I say exactly the same in my workshops all the time.

But at the end of last year I ground to a complete halt. I had written a book a year for five years, plus 19 scheduled blogposts each year and umpteen guest and extra blogs, I write on social media most days, I also review books and write occasional articles for books and journals and I write poetry.

That part of my brain and my body which is the writer bit of me rebelled.

So I stopped.

Completely.

For over two months.

I did other things like walking in the woods and seeing family, especially the new grandbaby, I visited friends and I went to my beloved Hayling Island and walked the route of the old railway line - the Hayling Billy.

Ah ha  you're thinking! But were you happy - that writer not writing?
No - I had all sorts of mixed feelings - I'm not writing a novel, will ever I ever write a novel again, will I want to, what will I do instead - etc., etc., etc.
So was my soul and my confidence and my creativity shot down in flames?

Sometimes it felt like that and a sort of numbness too.
But....
THEN.....

KERCHING!!!

It changed...

All those feelings inside me that come together to make me a writer.

I wrote a poem.

I wrote a picture book text and then I wrote another one. A whole shiny new genre for me and a flutter of excitement ( you know that feeling writers) began to blossom inside me again.

I wrote other things too.

.

If you feel stale, if you have no ideas, if you have been writing for a very long time and you feel drained, then I would thoroughly recommend a complete break from writing. I mean - DO NO WRITING AT ALL.

Because it works - just as your body needs a prolonged rest after illness or extreme stress,

so does your writing part.

It is a risk - I know it is.

You might be under enforced deadlines - I wasn't.

It is scary.

But I cannot recommend it highly enough. 

My batteries are recharged. I am writing new and fun and good and creative and more than anything else - I am enjoying all my writing again.

If you choose to give my writing tip a try - good luck and stick with it. The outcomes will amaze you.

www.miriamhalahmy.com

Writings Tips #3 by Katie Dale

Welcome to Part Three of the EDGE WRITING TIPS series! Each week, a different Edge author will be offering a few pearls of writing wisdom. We hope you find them useful!

This week, Katie Dale shares her top tips…

If you have any specific questions about writing, do feel free to ask us by writing in the comments, or contacting us on Twitter @EdgeWriters. One of us will get back to you as soon as we can. 

Writing Tips 2 by Dave Cousins — 15 Ways to Write a Story!

Welcome to Part Two of the EDGE WRITING TIPS series. Each week, a different Edge author will be sharing a few nuggets of writing wisdom. We hope you find them useful! 

This week, Dave Cousins shares his tips for 15 ways to write a story …

If you would like a copy of 15 Ways to Write a Story! for your own reference, or to use with students, the file can be downloaded for FREE as a Powerpoint or multi-page PDF here.

If you have any specific writing questions, let us know in the comments below and one of us will get back to you as soon as we can. 

Thanks and happy word wrangling! 

Writing Tips 1 by Bryony Paarce

This is the first in a series of new posts by the Edge. Each week we will be giving our writing tips. This week I tell you to GO BE A DORK.

If you have any specific questions about writing, do feel free to ask us by writing in the comments, or calling us on Twitter. One of us will try and address them asap. 

Enjoy

When I go into schools I like to say that aspiring writers need to be dorks. Not so much that it is necessary to be a giant nerd, as I was, but it is a great way to remember my top writing tips!

D = Daydream

Writers need to be able to daydream. Time spent making things up, wondering what if and why, interrogating experiences and observations is never time wasted and can lead to the best story ideas.

O = Observe

Writers tend to be (and need to be) keen and accurate observers. Not just observers of the stories around us that can kick off the process of inspiration, but observers of human nature. The best way to write consistent, human characters is to develop an understanding of real people, how and why they do what they do and say the things they say, what underlying hurts and pressures drive them.

R = Read

You cannot be a good writer without being a good reader. Read everything you can get your hands on, not only in the genre that interests you, but in genres that don’t, you never know what will inspire or interest you. In reading widely you will discover other voices that will feed into your own, other stories that will inspire you, you might discover how not to write, or discover a writer you want to emulate.

And from a practical point of view, you need to know what else is out there, imagine never reading YA, but spending years writing a book about sparkly vampires and only discovering Twilight when the agents you approach tell you to look it up.

K = Kwery or QUERY

Okay, I know it’s a cheat, the sounds are the same.

Query means that as an aspiring writer you should constantly query everything you see and hear, ask why and what if until you have built up a complete story in your head. Be annoying (if observing all your friends hasn’t been annoying enough already), get answers to questions and if you can’t find the answers, make up a story instead.

My final writing tip, once you have become a dork is both the most obvious and most difficult. The best way to become a writer, is to write.

No excuses - sit down and write.

The big difference between a published writer and someone who says they always intended to write a book one day, is that the published writer sat down and started writing, then kept writing until they got good enough.

Be a dork and write.

A New Library Teen Reading Group by Savita Kalhan

I’ve been a member of the library since I was about five years old. Wycombe library had an amazing children’s library and I made use of it every Saturday morning throughout my childhood. Then, when I was twelve,  I joined the adult library where bookshelves went right up to the ceiling. The reference library, upstairs, was well stocked and quiet, with lots of rows of tables and desks, and that’s where I ended up doing a lot of homework. Being the eldest of seven kids, our house was noisy and chaotic, so the library was the perfect refuge and I really don’t know what I would have done without it.

I’ve been going to a few Save Barnet Libraries, where there are threatened closures and down-scaling have put the libraries in jeopardy. We all know how important libraries are, how invaluable they are to local communities, and how one central library serving a huge area cannot serve the needs of library users. Local library branches are essential.
Save Barnet Libraries Facebook page

With the booming teen/YA market, there is obviously a demand for new books. The teen sections of many libraries vary greatly in size and content. Some councils and boroughs have been forced to reduce their spending on books, which generally means less books and therefore less choice. I think it’s important for kids to have choice when it comes to books. In my local library, the teen section is a very small area, although it’s still used by teens to borrow books. They often study in the library too. More books and more choice would be good though. So I thought why not volunteer to start a Teen Reading Group? It would be no more than an hour of my time once or twice a month, and if it promotes reading amongst teens and introduces them to a wider variety and more diverse books, then I’ll be a very happy person.

After a meeting with the manager of the library, the project was given the green light, and we will, hopefully, have our first meeting in a couple of week’s time. I hope the word will spread and more teens join. I hope the library can buy more books, offer more choice, and continue to inspire kids to read.

I'm starting with the CILIP Carnegie shortlist, and from there to a world of books!

And I hope the council sees how important libraries are and the part they play in peoples’ lives.


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