Finding a way to describe what you are doing and protecting your own fragile ego isn't such a bad idea. Writing is a kind of confidence trick - you have to con yourself into thinking you can do it, into thinking that what you are writing is the Real McCoy. It doesn't matter that much if you are, in fact, writing a novel about a guy who isn't all that happy and is thinking about maybe moving somewhere else, as you'll have spared yourself one of life's tiny humiliations. Instead, have a good line, something like, "It's about a woman who establishes an independent republic inside one of the pods on the London Eye," to which people will reply, "What happens to her?" and you'll have your first potential sale. When you tell people you are writing a novel they will, inevitably, ask "What's it about?" If you reply, "Well, I'm not really sure, it's kind of about a guy who isn't all that happy and is thinking about maybe moving someplace else, but can't make up his mind," you'll panic as their eyes glaze over and their smile slowly fades, and you'll end up thinking, "God that sounds awful, why am I even bothering to write this thing?" about your own novel, which is never a good thing. ![]() Find a simple but compelling way to describe to people what you are writing.Only count words when you are in need of reassurance only count words on those desperate days when knowing you've written a bunch of words will make you feel like you've achieved something, regardless of the quality. ![]() So what if you wrote 500 words today? When tomorrow arrives, you'll probably have to cut 450 of them. Whereas a page of writing, well, then you've got something to work with, something that, hopefully, will lead to better things. A blank page is just that, and the only thing it is good for is driving you crazy. Bad writing can be improved upon, can be polished and cut and shaped and revised. For many writers the most productive technique is to push on, regardless of what crap they are spewing. Conversely, when you read something you don't like, think about what it is that displeases you as a reader.īut really, the best way to start writing is to start writing. It's important to develop your reading skills - when you read something you like, spend some time figuring out why you like it, what the writer is doing to produce this effect. While creative writing degrees have helped a lot to professionalise the way we learn to write, there's still much to be said for the auto-didactic approach of intensive, prolonged reading across genre, across period, and across the market as well. Writers read for a huge variety of reasons for research, of course, and for pleasure, but also to learn from writers we admire. In some ways, this is the best place to start: have a good idea and then feel guilty every day you waste not working on it.Īll serious writers are also serious readers. Many writers write because they feel compelled to do so because if they don't, they aren't happy. "Being a writer" is itself a weird idea, really, as though there exists a permanent state of glorious writerliness, when in fact writing is not a state of being, but an art, a craft, a set of technical skills. ![]() Some writers write very quickly while others labour over projects for years, but neither would deny that writing requires dedication, and that the difference between someone who dreams of being a writer, and someone who gets on with the absorbing and frustrating process of getting the words down, is vast. ![]() It's about a willingness to put in the hours it takes to make your story work. As anyone who writes will tell you, writing is primarily about graft. The truth is that ideas are all around us, in the people you meet, in the things you read and see and hear and experience, in your own childhood and family, in the wilder reaches of your imagination.īut a good idea isn't the be-all-and-end-all. But, even though this question gets asked a lot, most writers find it difficult to supply a decent answer. Writers are often asked the question, "Where do you get your ideas from?" as though there is a special place where you can buy them: Asda for chick-lit, perhaps, Waitrose for literary fiction.
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