Goodreads asked Hannah Fielding:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Hannah Fielding First and foremost write from the heart. Be true to yourself and don’t compromise to please the market. Market change, fads come and go; your work will remain.

Research your facts thoroughly. A writer today has no excuse for not getting his/her facts right. Use all the tools available to you. Travel, internet, books, films, documentaries; it’s all there to enrich your experience and make your writing journey easier.

Plan your novel up to the smallest detail. This will make your writing so much easier and therefore so much more enjoyable. A plan is your map. Would you set out on a long journey by car without a map?

Read, reread, and reread. Edit, Edit, Edit. Go through your manuscript again and again and edit it. I know that it will break your heart to delete a phrase or even one word you spent time agonizing on, buts sometimes less is better than more. Not an easy advice to follow, but in the long run it does work. If you can leave the manuscript along for a few weeks and revisit it at a later date, reading it as if it were someone else’s, than that’s even better.

Do not get discouraged. Continue to write whether you think your work is good or bad. There is no bad writing. There are good days and bad days. The more you write, the better you will get.

flag