Sheila Fiske
asked
Susan Mallery:
When you first started writing books, what advise were you given? Also, what advise would you give to someone who wants to write books. Thanks!
Susan Mallery
That's a great question, Sheila. One very practical piece of advice that I found very helpful was in a screenwriting class I took. (I took a lot of screenwriting classes, not because I wanted to write for the screen, but for story structure. They were fabulous.) The teacher told us that if we wanted to write more, we should get to a page count where we felt really comfortable, and then add 10%. So if you were writing 10 pages a day, you should write 11. That extra page might take the same amount of time as the other 10 pages combined, but stick with it until it feels comfortable. Then add another 10%. I found that when I did that, eventually I was writing 50% more per day than when I started, and I was doing it in the same amount of time. It was kind of like magic!
My advice to aspiring writers is to write. That sounds simple, but many people talk about wanting to write without actually spending the time writing. It's not easy, but in order to get better, you have to write even when it's hard.
My advice to aspiring writers is to write. That sounds simple, but many people talk about wanting to write without actually spending the time writing. It's not easy, but in order to get better, you have to write even when it's hard.
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