Skills that help writers write!
This is an extract from a blog post I did for Harlequin on skills that are useful for writers.
Being able to write, let’s assume is a prerequisite. Which still leaves a pretty wide canvas, because a lot of people who can write don’t take up writing as a primary or even a secondary career. I’m putting down some of the traits and skills I think help make a successful author. Because I love lists and bullet points, and I can’t use them in my books, I’m indulging myself in this blog. (Sometimes I’m very tempted to write a book in bullet points for my male friends who refuse to read romances because they’re ‘girly’. Eg: Pt 1. She looked at him; Pt 2. He was incredibly handsome; Pt 3. Her heart started beating faster. And so on and so forth. But I digress, let me get back to the subject!)
1. It’s important to be passionate about your writing. Expecting readers and publishers to accept work that you’re not passionate about yourself is a bit like cooking a meal and wanting people to appreciate it when you’re refusing to taste it yourself. Passion breeds conviction, as the wise man said.
2. Being a good observer. It’s the little nuances that bring a book alive for a reader. People’s clothes, their expressions, the way they move or talk or laugh – even descriptions of the weather or the setting can turn an otherwise mundane passage into an evocative piece of prose.
3. Doing your background research. This of course varies from genre to genre – the amount of research required for a fantasy set in an imaginary land is much less than in a historical novel. Even in modern romance writing, a fair bit of research is required. For example, in my latest book “The One She Was Warned About”, the hero is an event manager, and I needed to do speak to people from the event management industry to get an idea of what a working day would be like for him. Similarly, as the hero and heroine were moving between Mumbai, Kerala, Delhi and Pune, I had to get details about the weather and flights right.
4. Taking criticism positively and using it to improve your writing. If someone’s taken time out to read a story and give feedback on it, her opinion is usually worth having. You needn’t agree with the feedback – but you do need to understand why she liked/ disliked your story.
5. Stick-to-it-ivity. Writing can be incredibly frustrating. There are weekends when I move everything around in my schedule to accommodate a couple of hours of writing. Then I spend those hours chewing my fingernails and staring at my laptop because not a single sentence turns out right. On those days, it’s important to give yourself a little break, but even more important to come back to your writing as soon as you can, and stick with it till you get it done.
6. Concentrating and letting your imagination run free at the same time. It’s a fine balance, because unless you concentrate whole-heartedly on your writing, you won’t get anything worthwhile done. But if you concentrate too hard, you tend to get a little mechanical, and that doesn’t work either. It helps if you take some time out for a bit of free thinking. What if Character 1 does something completely outrageous – how would Character 2 react? What if the whole book was set in the future? Would the motivations remain the same? Most of this won’t find its way into the final book, but it’ll help you break loose from formulaic or imitative writing.
There’s a lot more, but these are the most important according to me. Happy writing!
Being able to write, let’s assume is a prerequisite. Which still leaves a pretty wide canvas, because a lot of people who can write don’t take up writing as a primary or even a secondary career. I’m putting down some of the traits and skills I think help make a successful author. Because I love lists and bullet points, and I can’t use them in my books, I’m indulging myself in this blog. (Sometimes I’m very tempted to write a book in bullet points for my male friends who refuse to read romances because they’re ‘girly’. Eg: Pt 1. She looked at him; Pt 2. He was incredibly handsome; Pt 3. Her heart started beating faster. And so on and so forth. But I digress, let me get back to the subject!)
1. It’s important to be passionate about your writing. Expecting readers and publishers to accept work that you’re not passionate about yourself is a bit like cooking a meal and wanting people to appreciate it when you’re refusing to taste it yourself. Passion breeds conviction, as the wise man said.
2. Being a good observer. It’s the little nuances that bring a book alive for a reader. People’s clothes, their expressions, the way they move or talk or laugh – even descriptions of the weather or the setting can turn an otherwise mundane passage into an evocative piece of prose.
3. Doing your background research. This of course varies from genre to genre – the amount of research required for a fantasy set in an imaginary land is much less than in a historical novel. Even in modern romance writing, a fair bit of research is required. For example, in my latest book “The One She Was Warned About”, the hero is an event manager, and I needed to do speak to people from the event management industry to get an idea of what a working day would be like for him. Similarly, as the hero and heroine were moving between Mumbai, Kerala, Delhi and Pune, I had to get details about the weather and flights right.
4. Taking criticism positively and using it to improve your writing. If someone’s taken time out to read a story and give feedback on it, her opinion is usually worth having. You needn’t agree with the feedback – but you do need to understand why she liked/ disliked your story.
5. Stick-to-it-ivity. Writing can be incredibly frustrating. There are weekends when I move everything around in my schedule to accommodate a couple of hours of writing. Then I spend those hours chewing my fingernails and staring at my laptop because not a single sentence turns out right. On those days, it’s important to give yourself a little break, but even more important to come back to your writing as soon as you can, and stick with it till you get it done.
6. Concentrating and letting your imagination run free at the same time. It’s a fine balance, because unless you concentrate whole-heartedly on your writing, you won’t get anything worthwhile done. But if you concentrate too hard, you tend to get a little mechanical, and that doesn’t work either. It helps if you take some time out for a bit of free thinking. What if Character 1 does something completely outrageous – how would Character 2 react? What if the whole book was set in the future? Would the motivations remain the same? Most of this won’t find its way into the final book, but it’ll help you break loose from formulaic or imitative writing.
There’s a lot more, but these are the most important according to me. Happy writing!
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