Five Tips for aspiring writers from Amanda Labonté

Amanda’s terrific debut novel for teens, Call of The Sea, is a harrowing, beautiful, magical read. I liked it so much, I blurbed it! Amanda shared with me a writing prompt, her favourite novel, both of which I’ll share in my newsletter (sign up here) I’m excited to host Amanda here today as she shares her five tips for aspiring writers with you.

1. Join a writing group or, if you need more structure and have the money take a creative writing class. A writing group or class helps in two really important ways. Firstly, it gets you writing. Secondly, it will help you get used to criticism and feedback which is helpful in the long run, especially when you start approaching publishers and editors.

2. Read in your genre. Not for ideas (you have those) but to understand what the audience will expect of the genre. Plus it’s fun.

3. Figure out a time of day that works for writing and then write at that time every day. It doesn’t have to be a lot of time, but a consistent time makes a difference. Otherwise writing is the thing you get to after cleaning, groceries, changing the oil, reshingling the roof, learning to knit, etc.

4. Set a deadline for someone to read a draft of your manuscript. Whether it’s a friend with a strong interest in the genre or a paid editor, nothing gets a writer writing like having a deadline.

5. Done is better than perfect. That’s the motto I had to live by last going off. Editing can become addictive and it’s easy to fall into the trap of constantly looking for something new to fix. Accept that your work will never be ‘perfect’ but if you have put in the time, effort and editing, it can be finished.

Find Amanda here:

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/amandalabontewrites

Twitter: @amlabonte

Instagram: @amlabonte