 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
 |
| Author Interviews | Illustrator Interviews |
| Writing Tips | Illustration Tips | Poetry Tips |
| Play Writing Tips | Author Websites |
Writing Tips:
Other Advice
It may sound obvious but to write well you need to read widely. Read good and bad books to know what works beautifully and what writing is terrible! Read anything and everything: across genres, young adult and adult, fiction and non-fiction. Pay attention to the little stories in life: things you hear about on the news, in conversations, on public transport. Keep your ear open for quirky speech patterns, interesting statements. And write as much and as often as you can. |
Randa Abdel-Fattah offers
tips on: Other Advice
Think carefully about the words you use – avoid slang and cliché – go for strong, simple words but use them in unusual ways. Really let yourself believe in what you’re writing. And most of all, ENJOY! |
Don't give up! Take advice form people you can trust, but if you really want to be a writer wou have to believe your story is worth reading, even when other people don't seem that interested at first. |
Read! Read! Read! Keeping a diary is an excellent way of getting into the habit of writing your thoughts and feelings about things. It also gets you into the habit of writing on a regular basis. Find your own style, don't copy anyone else's. And to all the would-be writers out there - don't give up! |
Don't give up on a story too soon. Lots of people get discouraged when a story doesn't come out quickly. Most of the writers I know (myself included) have to do several drafts of a story before it comes out right. Stick at the story. Keep putting down words and working at it until you've achieved the result you want. Good luck! |
My top tips for would-be writers are... |
Writing is a slow business. If you do write a book it might take you a year or more. Make a small target for yourself. I will work on my book for ONE hour a week. Don't break that target. You'll find that you'll probably do more but even if you don't that's fifty two hours work on one story. That will be a huge achievement.. Good Luck!!! |
Practice makes perfect! (Well, it will help you to improve anyway!) |
Enjoy wrting! There's no point in doing it otherwise. Enjoy finding new words and playing with them, enjoy day-dreaming. Your imagination is wonderful - it's a special place that only you can go to, but you can invite somebody in by writing a story for them to read. Have fun. |
Read, read, read. Other people’s work enriches your own style. Come at it happy. Come at it sad. Come at it fresh. Come at it tired. Come at it optimistic. Come at it thinking it’s rubbish. The bits that survive all readings will be a fine piece of work. |
Don’t show off. OK, so you think you can use fancy language. The reader might not want that. Mostly, they want a fast-paced, convincing, emotionally true narrative. Why not give them what they want? |
Read, read, read – especially my books of course. Have a look at: www.maryhooper.ca.uk |
Ignore all this advice. Just do what you think is right. There are no rules in writing. Believe in yourself – you know best. |
Writing is like any other skill it improves with practice. You wouldn't expect to get better at playing football or a musical instrument or at drawing by just imagining it in your head and hoping that the first time you actually did it you'd be an expert. Yet so many writers are like that. They avoid getting started and then the first time they do they sort of despair because they haven't written War and Peace. |
Watch people, listen to people, take notes. Keep a diary, and lie your head off in it. Try and do a lot of different things, gain broad experience of life, because that will make it more interesting to write about.. Try and enjoy life, then life will make itself more enjoyable. Then when you write about it, it will be more enjoyable for us to read. Don’t be morose. There are more than enough woe-is-me stories out there, and there are never enough funny ones. Aside from taxes, life is nowhere near as bad is it is often made out to be.. Even if you are telling a deeply sad tale, if you can bring to it a lightness of touch, a bigness of spirit, you will be a champion. Learn to tell a tale as only you can tell it (and that starts by seeing things as only you can see them). Avoid conventional wisdom. As a matter of fact, avoid wisdom altogether until you run out of everything else. |
Keep a notebook. Write things down. The more you write, the better you write. Once you have something written, you have something to change. Roald Dahl said that, and 'If it was good enough for him, it's good enough for me!' |
You could spend the rest of your life reading what others write on HOW to write. Nobody has the definitive answers - I certainly don't. Don't get too caught up in this. The time you spend reading these things could be spent writing, and that's what you should be doing. Writers write, so get on with it! |
If your story does not seem to come to life, check that each of your important characters want something badly. If they don’t, it’s hard for readers to love or hate them. |
My best piece of advice would be to take all my advice with a pinch of clichéd salt. You can break rules. You can find your own way. The best way of becoming a writer is simply to write. You will discover what works as you go along. |
Enjoy the challenge. Believe in yourself and be willing to learn and receive criticism - all writers get this. And write because you really want to or you have a story to tell. DON'T write because you want to rich like J.K. Rowling - that rarely happens. Be disciplined - finish what you start and have fun!! |
Keep it real! |
If you want to write – then write! It’s amazing how many people say they are going to do it and then don’t. Choose a time of day that suits you – it’s early mornings or late at night with me – and have a place you can go where you’re out of the way. Lose yourself and enjoy it! |
If you really want to be a writer do not be put off by anyone who tells you to think about getting a proper job and that you’ll never succeed. People will always want to read books and somebody has to write them, why not you? |
-Don't let people set you fixed rules for writing (rules about using a certain number of similes, metaphors, etc...). If anyone says there's a formula, ask them to read you something they have written themselves. The chances are they won't have anything, or that if they do it will be rubbish. |
|
 |
|
| SFW 7 - 11 Area | Staff Login | SFW Stay Safe Area |
Logout from SFWstoriesfromtheweb@birmingham.gov.uk 'Stories from the Web' is a Reader Development Programme managed by Birmingham Libraries Click here for Subscribing Partner Authorities Web site hosted by UKOLN at: COPYRIGHT © Stories from the Web
|
