Whenever I write about writing or about my books my Facebook feed shows lots of pop-up ads for writers needing writing and marketing advice. I always roll my eyes when I see those. There are tons of scam artists out there trying to make a fast buck off of people like me who like to write but who don't have a literary agent.
Just yesterday I saw an ad for a "contest" and in order to enter it you had to pay $75! Um, no, that is a load of bollocks.
You can read all the advice in the world about writing and it won't do that much good if one thing isn't true: your commitment to writing. I've read how-to books about writing novels and really felt like there was a lot of great advice in them but it took me YEARS to work up the guts to even try to write an actual novel. You have to really want to be good at writing, or you won't be. Nobody "accidentally" writes a novel.
So for what it's worth, here are some writing tips from me.
- Assess your commitment. Do you really want to be a great writer? If not, walk away. Writing is really hard and lonely and often doesn't pay off so if you aren't committed, just find something else creative to do.
- Read. Read novels all the time. Put down your phone and read novels, or read novels on a Kindle app on your phone. I recently started reading a novel on my phone and wow, I thought I would hate it but I don't. I always have my phone on me and now I don't have to find my paper book and stick it in my purse before I run errands or go to the doctor. Reading instructs you in how to write better than any class.
- Forget about being "literary." That stymied me for years. I have an MA in Creative Writing and I figured anyone who knew that would expect me to write in a very mannered, "literary" style that's not me at all. I had to get past that.
- Outlines are optional. I was convinced for years that until I could produce a detailed, brilliant outline that my novels would simply be a mess. Not true. You can start off with just a vague notion and see where each day's output takes you. There are many famous writers like Pat Conroy who never made an outline before starting a book. I just never like to be constrained by an outline. I like to see where my imagination takes me as I write. Sometimes minor characters become major ones, or something interesting pops into my head as I write. I have to be able to go off plan, often.
- Your life is fodder for your writing. Everything that happens to you will always be great to use because you are intimately familiar with it. However, you can definitely reach beyond your own life. I was the kid who was always eavesdropping on grownup conversations and I didn't realize then that family stories and gossip are excellent sources for books. After hearing so many family stories about my grandparents' early marriage I was inspired to write Return to Marietta. My main characters, Lillian and Will, are closely based on my grandparents, but since it's a novel I was free to improvise the rest of the book.
- Be curious. Be a busybody. Ask people questions like "Tell me about how you met your boyfriend?" or "How did you feel when you left that party?"
or "Did you like school as a child?" etc. I am blessed to have friends who have led much more interesting lives than I have -- so I have lots of material. Of course, if you use what they say you will need to change the names and/or some details so all your friends and relatives don't stay mad at you all the time... - Don't write stereotypes. My mother used to tell me "All bad people have some good in them and all good people have some bad in them." Even Hitler liked dogs. One-dimensional characters are boring. In the movie 3:10 to Yuma Russell Crowe has a great line when he says "Even bad men love their mamas."
- Write a lot of garbage. I hesitated to write for years because I was so fearful it wouldn't be any good. I should have started writing much sooner but I let that fear stop me. Truth is, you will likely write a LOT of crap before you can write something fairly decent. Writing is a process of trial and error. The more you try, the more you win.
- Short stories don't matter. I had heard so many times that in order to be a good novelist you had to write short stories. Nope. I rarely write short stories. Almost never. A great short story is very different from a novel. Mastery of one doesn't guarantee mastery of the other.
- Be sparing with description. I have stopped reading so many books because the author just went ON and ON about the color of curtains and the state of the weather and those held no interest for me. If you really love lots and lots of detailed descriptions, good for you. Write thousands of words describing the scene before any action occurs. Just don't cry to me when people fall asleep reading your book.
- Find readers to help you out. After I finish a book I send it out to a few trusted readers so I can get constructive feedback. I cannot be objective, nor can anyone, when it comes to their own work.
- Do not let rejection force you to stop. Not everyone will like what you write. Many literary agents will have no interest in what you write. Do NOT let their criticism or rejection cause you to stop writing. As long as you are enjoying writing, nobody has a right to tell you to stop.
#freewritingadvice, #howtowriteanovel, #thewriterslife, #tipsforauthors, #tipsfornovelists
