6 Pieces of Writing Advice

It’s early in the year and maybe you made a resolution that 2022 is THE YEAR you write that novel you’ve had rattling about in your head.

Why? Because the world needs your novel and you deserve to be the one to write it. There is nothing quite like the sense of joy and achievement you feel when the fractious pieces of plot you’ve been wrestling with finally slot into place.

That moment could be yours.

Now you’re a writer you’ll quickly discover is there is a hell of a lot of advice out there, from blogs to books to drunk people at parties.

Some of this advice is magnificent. It resonates; you take it in and pour forth prose unto the blank word document/notebook/scrivener software, et voila! Real change, real progress. A novel is born.

Some of this advice is a pile of crap.

I don’t say that to be rude, because someone’s pile of crap is someone else’s fine compost. There are plenty of nuggets of non-subjective truth from the books and blogs and drunken people at parties, but what sifts the majority of magnificent advice from the crap advice is you and your style of writing. Take what works for you and roll with it.

So, here are MY top pieces of writing advice. People much smarter than me have said them before in some form or another. I hope many of you will find compost in these words to fertilise your creativity.

1. Read.

Read everything, but especially in the genre you plan to write in. Stephen King noted that if you don’t read then you don’t have the tools to write. So, read. (This is one of those truth nuggets and is non-negotiable.)

If you’re worried about taking on another author’s ‘voice’ then read lots of books at once. When I sit down to write I read a selection of pages from 5 – 10 different books. It gets the words flowing but no single author’s writing style is overly prominent in my mind.

2. Have a plan.

I can feel the discovery writers (pansters) amongst you bristling. I get it. I’m a discovery writer too, not an architect (plotter) and I hate outlining in advance. I just want to write and let my instincts take over. I tell you what, it saves a ton of stress (especially if, like me, you like your novels dark and tightly woven) and helps focus your writing time if you take a moment to plan ahead.

One of my favourite new techniques is to craft a pitch or book blurb before I start writing. A great pitch should introduce the protagonist and their goal, their motivation for wanting that goal, the conflict preventing them from attaining that goal and what will happen if they fail. Then something changes that alters the goal and raises the stakes. They have a choice to make. What is that choice? If you can get all of this worked out in advice, this is basically your first act.

3. Everything comes back to character.

Your protagonist is the heart of your novel. Readers don’t care how unique your premise is, how gripping your plot might be, or how amazing your world building is if your protagonist fails to engage them. Take the time (and blood, sweat, tears and caffeine) to craft incredible characters with compelling and authentic voices.

4. Write the story you want to tell.

If you want to publish it is a great idea to have a strong idea of your target reader, where your idea fits within the market and what makes your idea stand out. But all of that could change by the time your book is ready to go on sale. Market trends are notoriously difficult to predict (many an agent and publisher would pay a fortune for a failsafe way to predict such trends.)

The best stories are the ones the writer is passionate about telling. Write the story you want to read. That’s the book the world needs.

5. Never give up.

‘A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.’ – Richard Bach.

Writing is hard, we’ve established that. Guess what? Getting traditionally published or making a successful career as an indie author is even harder. There are two categories of author who achieve it. The lucky few and the persistent/seriously hard working (bearing in mind the lucky lot also worked very hard to get there, often for years.)

It’s also worth considering what success as a writer means for you. It might be to self-publish or hit certain sales targets. It might be publishing traditionally with one of the big 5 (now big 4), or it might be to publish a series, or a certain number of titles a year. Or, you may wish to write for your own pleasure or for family and friends. There is nothing wrong with that. Set your own targets.

6. Get that first draft done – whatever works.

You can’t submit to an agent, forge a career as an indie author, or entertain your friends without a book to sell/share.

James Michener stated ‘There is no great writing, only great re-writing.’ That first draft is going to need a ton of work, which you will get done over many a pot of tenarrativea and maybe cake (maybe wine) and craft your draft into fine prose and a fantastic story with compelling characters.

But this all leads us to a piece of real, unavoidable truth.

Reading about becoming a writer, or a more efficient writer, or a better writer is NOT writing. Planning your novel may be progress, but it is not writing. Creating beautiful character and setting aesthetics on Pinterest may help you envision a scene or understand your characters. It’s not writing.

You don’t have to write every day, but you do need to be reasonably consistent with getting words on the page.

Writers write. Go get at it my friend!

What’s the best piece of writing advice anyone has ever given you?