Edit, edit, edit

If there’s one thing I’ve learned from my first novel, Noah’s Ark (oh, hindsight, you’re crueler and kinder than a well-meaning parent), it’s that editing pays dividends. As hard as it is to look back at the work you spent months caressing into what you think is the perfect shape, it only takes a quick re-read to see that the perfect shape is not perfect at all: it’s covered in blisters and scabs, and needs medication.

Self editing isn’t an impossibility, but, without immense discipline, it mi...