Friday 27 January 2012

Advice for Fiction Writers

A quick thought for a Friday afternoon with the whole weekend ample with promise ahead: leading on from yesterday's post about writing the first draft of the first chapter, the most important advice is...

...WRITE

Having denied yourself the pleasure all through the preparation period, just write. Don't be too precious about it -- my burgeoning shed is currently held up with noggins and single nails (thought noggin was something you drank?? Ed) and I'm pinning my hopes on the fact that the Steves will secure it properly once the position of the windows, doors etc is definitively finalised.

So, while the details are still being fleshed out inside your head, write.  You can always change things later.  You can scrap the lot and throw it in the bin.  For the time being, the most important thing is to splurge it all out.  Don't spend too much time re-reading what you've already written -- only glance back long enough to help yourself pick up the threads, then go charging onwards, ever onwards.  It's the only way you'll get momentum going.  It's also the best way I know to enter the world of your story, just as you hope the reader will one day too.

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