Back to writing: 10 tips for aspiring authors
BY Anna Davis
7th Sep 2018
If you're looking to get back into swing of writing and don't know where to begin it can be helpful to return to staple tools in your writers' toolkit. We've pulled together some of our top writing tips and some exclusive bits of advice from author and CBC's Founder Anna Davis taken from our How to Write Your Novel courses.
Read books that inspire you
Read books that are in your genre, books that are newly published, books that your tutors and your student group are talking about, books you’d never normally pick up… If you find you’re reading something that’s causing you problems with your writing or giving you the anxiety of influence, set it aside but be sure to start something else. Read voraciously and read as a writer – ie, always try to figure out how the author works their conjuring tricks and what you can learn from them.
Go old-school
If the big white screen and the blinking cursor intimidate you, take yourself off-computer and try writing longhand in a notebook for a while. Read more of our tips for starting to write a novel.
Use writing prompts
Here are three prompts you can use to start writing a scene:
- She used to hide behind the door.
- It was so high up, and I’m afraid of heights.
- He didn’t look anything like his picture.
When you use a writing prompt you might just discover a way in to a longer story. There was an excellent prompt for this month's #WriteCBC challenge, check it out!
For more prompts and writing exercises to get the creative juices flowing join our 30-Day Writing Bootcamp or four-week online Creative Writing for Beginners course.
Write what you feel you want and need to write
If you don’t read or particularly enjoy psychological thrillers, then don’t attempt to write one because you think it might be a commercially smart move. Equally don’t set about writing a piece of literary fiction, with pretensions to Booker winning greatness, just because you think that is what ‘serious’ writers do. Follow your instincts. More on this here: What kind of book are you writing: Literary or commercial fiction?
Writing your novel is running that marathon
You will be living with this idea, working away at it, for a long time. Sometimes you’re going to hate it or just feel indifferent about it, but make sure you start by writing a story you care about. That’s much more important than writing something you think will be saleable. Work out what kind of writer you are and get advice tailored to your writing style here.
Interview your character
Ask them questions and answer them, at length, in their own (first person) voice. Hint – if you find that you are answering as yourself rather than as your character, then you probably haven’t created your character yet.
Learn more about creating compelling characters on our four-week course: Character Development – The Deep Dive.
Character motivation is key
When you’re deciding on what your characters do in your story, you need to know why they’re doing it. And it needs to be a proper, actual reason. There have been times, lately, when I’ve asked a student to explain why a character has taken a particular unlikely action, and they’ve just looked at me blankly, and slightly nervously. I’ve been asked, “What do you mean?” I’ve been told, “I thought it would be clever”. Don’t contort your characters’ actions into crazy shapes to fit your idea of an exciting or innovative plot. Action must flow from character. Get the lowdown on character motivation.
Always title your work
When it comes to pitching your novel to publishers, it’s much better to have the wrong title than to have no title at all. If it isn’t yet right, you can always change it later.
Take time to plan your rewrite
Planning is hard work, but plans are liberating and so helpful. Once you know what has to be done, you can relax and have fun with it.
Get the most out of your editing process, enrol on our bestseling Edit & Pitch Your Novel course.
Format your work properly
This may sound petty, but it comes back to the idea that first impressions count. When you’re reading lots of applications it makes a massive difference when the work looks clean, professional and readable. This tip applies whether you're submitting your work to an agent or preparing your application material for a Curtis Brown Creative selective entry course.
And our final bonus tip is a bit of a cheeky one! Enrol on one of our four-week online Creative Writing for Beginners course and kick-start your imagination. Our join one of our six-week online novel-writing courses designed to help you at different stages of your writing journey: Starting to Write Your Novel, Write to the End of Your Novel or Edit & Pitch Your Novel.