Monday 24 October 2011

How to Write a Novel

If you follow all the advice on the net about how to write a novel, you would never start. The only consistent advice that I can follow is, just write. Do you plan it, not plan it, create characters, let the characters create themselves? Everybody has a different idea.
I am writing a novel, just writing it. I did a three-day writing workshop recently, and the tutor's advice was to just write, write the crap out, then rewrite. You have to have a novel before you can know you can write one, right?
Any hopeful writers reading this?
My Creative Writing class is a great spur. I have to come up with something to read out 24 weeks of the year, even if I don't feel like it. So I do.
Extending this to any area of life, I believe if you want to be a millionaire/jeweller/painter/screenwriter or anything else, you have to make some steps towards it all the time, and whatever jolts you can give yourself to keep going, just give them. The longer you put it off, the less likely you are to do it.
Feel good advice for today.

1 comment:

  1. I absolutely agree Jenny, and this is great advice, thanks :) It's so easy putting off doing anything just because we think we won't know how and it won't turn out good but you're right, the most important is to do it, get started, and it doesn't matter if the first draft - or whatever else you want to do - is not perfect. 'Practice makes perfect' like they say :)

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