My rules for writing

There’s lots of advice out there.

And yes, in the field of writing there are always new things to learn. Recently I’ve seen social posts where questions have been asked by writers (and writers-to-be), so I thought I’d share some of my tips based on the questions asked.

In my next blog, I will share my author marketing tips, but this week it’s all about writing.

Edit your last scene before you begin your next.

Always begin your writing day reviewing the last scene you wrote, no matter which draft it is. If you can, read it out loud as if you’re performing it to a keen audience of potential readers.

You will find typos and Yoda-isms, especially if it is your initial draft. You will save more time later if you edit along the way, and it will help your flow into the scene you’re about to write.

Put yourself in your words.

If possible, rework your own life into your scenes. The novel I’m currently working on includes my own comical and painful experiences. Funny or philosophical one-liners friends have said also make it into my works.

For example, while drunk a friend said, ‘I’ve just swallowed a clown.’ Even he didn’t know what he meant, but it was worth using in a story.

My novella, Winter Masquerade, is very personal, even though it’s a fantasy tale. It deals with a dark period of my life. The first two of my Actors and Angels series are loosely based on me and my partner.

Readers respond to realism, no matter the genre.

The three month rule.

This was shared by an author at a workshop I attended a very long time ago, and it stuck. After you complete a draft, don’t look at it for at least three months.

Then, print it (or pdf it as I do now) in a different font and read it through as if it is someone else’s novel. Have a red pen in hand (or stylus). You will see typos, pacing problems, characters who need more development, and other issues alongside the things that work. But even the things that work can be built upon.

After your rewrite, put it away for another three months. Then repeat this process until eventually, you have virtually nothing to fix. That’s when you’re ready to submit to a publisher, or perhaps to an editor or manuscript assessor.

This process allows me to have two or three works in progress, all at different stages of development. It also means I have something to release each year — one which has been worked on for several years.

You will also find you will come up with ideas for the novels you are not currently working on, which will be invaluable when you return to that project.

Think of marketable stories.

The author who shared the previous tip, also pointed out that an acquisitions editor at a publishing house is looking for books that are marketable.

My first novel, Drama Queens with Love Scenes, features two friends who find themselves in the theatre district of the afterlife with no memory of how they died. They also don’t recall if they became lovers shortly before their death.

I put this story in the category of ‘write the book you want to read’. The problem is, I’m the one who wants to read it. For a long time it was my most well known book, thanks to a lot of self marketing.

The novel I’m most known for now is The Midnight Man. It features a man who has found the man of his dreams, literally in his dreams. This idea sells itself. But the story is really about ageing while it explores the disintegration of a relationship. They are the extra elements which introduce readers to the type of books I write.

In two weeks I’ll share My Author Marketing Tips. See you then.