Are you a Storyteller? Or a Wordsmith?

When you start writing a novel, you think the writing itself is the process. Then you finish the first draft, and you realise that, no, it’s the editing that’s the process. But the process actually starts before any of this – at the idea development stage.

Whether you’re a plotter or a panster (i.e. you write by the seat of your pants), you start off with a germ of an idea that requires love, care and attention in order for it to grow into a full-blown story.

With your first novel, you disco...