Let Me Tell You Something…
Don’t you just hate it when everyone wants to give you advice?
Sorry.
On the other hand, it seems that people are always asking questions about getting inspiration, how to write, what a pitch or synopsis is… and editing, and how I organise my day, and whether it really is acceptable to end on a split infinitive (or something like that). So, on occasion I try to think about what I do for roughly seven hours a day and turn that into vaguely coherent advice.
(Okay, two hours, but all that internet surfing and walking to and from Costa Coffee is an invaluable part of the process.)
I actually find the idea of passing on writing advice really scary and really useful, for the same reason: it makes me think. And when I think, I realise all of the stuff I should have done on that last story, or the thing I could have done with more time, or the way I could have planned the next novel a bit better.
I learn as much from this as the folks that read the advice, but the fact that I’m still learning lots of stuff means anyone that takes a look at my work can’t help but find examples of where I don’t follow my own advice. Always keep listening and learning.
A lot of my advice drips out when I’m talking about other things, so rather than trying to codify all of the semi-random titbits of help into discrete pages, we’ve set up a series of tag searches from the blog archive. Just click on the Writing Advice button on the top menu to get started. Some of the posts might look like they are about my weekly shopping, or internet cat memes or just a release announcement, but if it has a writing advice tag there should be a nugget in there.
I do, on occasion when the mood takes me, write entire blog posts about writing, planning, editing and all of that other stuff. These are trickier than they look, because I find it really hard to pick apart my process to analyse individual aspects of what I do. My intent a lot of the time is to pose issues that you must address as a writer – it’s not my answers that will help but the process of answering yourself. Guidance, not rules. To be ignored whenever necessary.
This is particularly true when it comes to running workshops. Thinking of not only advice but actual exercises that help get the idea across can be quite difficult. I’ve tried creating a post about the workshop that I recently ran at Derby Book Festival. I really don’t know how useful it is without me explaining and answering questions, but if you have any feedback on what works or doesn’t, or topics you would like to see me cover, just get in touch on the Contacts page.
Your Way or the Highway
The most important piece of advice I can give, about all aspects of the written word and the writing process, is to find your own way of doing things. Write what you want to write. Write how you want to write. When everything is boiled down to its essential elements, writing is about doing your thing. We write stories we want to read. We explore themes we want to explore. We blow up aliens we want to blow up.
