- Read your work out loud. Possibly put it on tape. It helps you “hear” your dialogue. If you “trip” over your words, your readers will too. You don’t realise until you speak the words.
- Have a go at the reputable story competitions (a writing magazine will alert you to these). If you win you have something to put on your writing CV.
- If you write in a genre, look up the relevant genre websites. There’ll be at least one!!!
- Back up your work regularly, back up your work regularly, back up your work regularly and, did I mention it, back up your work regularly! I’ve lost work due to a power cut but because I backed up earlier that evening I limited what I lost. I put the novels on the hard disk and a memory stick.
- Enjoy writing. If you can’t get fun out of it, nobody who reads your work will either. You give away more than you realise when you write. Falseness will show.
- I prefer to write my novel in longhand first. It doesn’t seem like writing to me if there isn’t a pen and paper involved somewhere! I use the typing up of the MSS as my first edit. Others can write a novel directly to screen. Whatever method you choose, be prepared to edit and edit and edit. I like this process. I swear I “feel” my MSS becoming tighter, better as the “flabby” writing is discarded nor do I feel ashamed of writing “flabby” to begin with - I think you need to get things out of your system. Besides what seemed a good idea can suddenly show up as not so good after all but only once you’ve got it down on paper.
- I can guarantee if you copy-edit only on screen, you’ll miss typos. There must be an unwritten law that says you must edit on paper to get it right!
- To write well, read well. How else can you know what you want to write or what you don’t want to do? And you do pick up on story construction, dialogue, narrative technique as you read another author’s work - it is an unconscious thing but it is something all writers need. We all build on what has gone before
- Jot down ideas as you have them otherwise you will forget. Every so often have a brainstorming session to generate ideas and to see what you can come out with and then expand on. Can you put some of your characters from a novel into short stories for mini adventures of their own?
- Care about your characters. Make what they’re achieving realistic and something your readers will sympathize with. There’s got to be empathy there. Even a chilling villain has to have some trait, some wish your readers can identify with.
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AuthorI'm Allison Symes and write fairytales with bite, especially novels and short stories. Archives
October 2019
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