These days, there are many ways to communicate the written word, so the options for writers and how they get their ideas into the real world are pretty much endless. Over the last few years, I have come across people who write direct on to their laptop. By that, I mean they type. Literally writing on your laptop would probably void the warranty.
Some are slightly more old school than that and they prefer to use a typewriter. After all, who can forget Ernest Hemingway’s immortal words;
Others prefer the walk-and-talk approach. No, not like The West Wing. They dictate what they’re writing and then either type it up later, or use speech-to-text software. I have even heard of writers who find they are most creative when using a word processing app on their smartphone. That way, they can write wherever and whenever they want to.
There are probably countless other ways that you could think of for getting an idea down on paper (or on screen).
My way is much simpler. I write by hand. Almost exclusively.
Of course, I then type up what I have written, but primarily, my first draft is done by hand.
I tend to think a lot clearer when I have a pen in my hand. The slow, analogue process of writing by hand makes me consider each sentence as it comes to me, while simultaneously keeping a thought on what is coming next.
And here’s why:
A piece of paper doesn’t have any other apps for me to distract myself. If I am focusing my energy on a blank piece of paper, I am much more likely to fill it than a blank computer screen than can be transformed into an internet page at the click of a button. Or worse, a game of Solitaire.
Even when I took part in NaNoWriMo last year (good luck to all taking part this year!), the 50,000 words I wrote in that month were predominantly done by hand. I filled one and a half full A4 notebooks in those 30 days alone.
Of course, the drawback at that the point came when I then had to type up each and every one of those 50,000 words as I went, in order to make use of the Verification part of the NaNoWriMo website. But that in itself is not a bad thing.
I have grown accustomed to writing by hand then typing up that particular scene or chapter while it is still fresh in my mind (before the tipping point between enthusiasm and self-doubt is reached). It is all part of my own creative process and, for the most part, it works well for me.
And it comes with a couple of hidden advantages.
Firstly, it’s quite difficult for others to read over my shoulder while I write. Aside from the fact that I tend to shut myself away in my room to write, if someone were to try and read over what I had written immediately after the fact, most of the time, they wouldn’t understand a word of it! The more relaxed into writing I get, the faster my thoughts flow. The faster my thoughts flow, the faster I write and my handwriting deteriorates accordingly. I am very fortunate that I am so familiar with my own handwriting, that I know what it says, even when others don’t. Although, there have been times when even I have paused to turn the page upside down in the hopes of deciphering a word or phrase my hand has struggled to keep up with.
My mum proofreads pretty much everything I write, and I am sure she is relieved I send her typed copies and not snapshots of my notes. In case you’re wondering, she has immaculate handwriting – I don’t know how she does it!
And secondly, have you ever heard of someone being able to hack into a handwritten notebook? Of course, this particular advantage is rather short-lived once I get it all typed up, but even then I still have the handwritten copy to go back to if something goes wrong with the electronic copy.
The Down Side
Now, you may be sat wondering a couple of things at this point:
- Does my left hand get sore doing this? Yes. Yes it does!
- Am I at all worried about developing RSI? Absolutely! But I know some excellent physiotherapists so, in the long run, I’ll be fine.
I frequently come away from writing with pain in my fingers, my wrist, even as far as my elbow. My knuckles crack and complain in all weathers at times, and the noises that my hand and wrist can make when I stop to flex could make a grown man pale with nausea.
But I’m afraid that just isn’t enough to make me stop. I have found a writing method that works for me and that is really all that matters.
I will way this, though; I see cod-liver-oil tablets in my future!
How about you?
Not the cod liver oil bit. What way of writing works best for you? Leave a comment to let me know!
October is a great month! Autumn really sets in and brings with it an incredible array of colours in the trees. It brings crisp, cold mornings and short days. Cosy jumpers, warm gloves, and hot drinks spiced with cinnamon.
Last year, when I took part, I discovered something really wonderful about the Writing Community, and that is that it is filled with people who not only have a shared love for writing, but also a shared passion for seeing other writers do well. There were several times last November when I seriously wanted to give up. That 
This isn’t just about accountability (which is important – it was a great motivator having a group of people around you to ask you the uncomfortable question of “
Snacks are great. 
Let’s get real for a sec. When the Ancient Greeks talked about Ambrosia, the food of the gods, what they actually meant was coffee. And this is coming from someone who is usually a 
OK, so writing is a solitary pursuit. This is why it is important to connect with others, particularly during 
As you may have been able to work out by now, I am a 
When I was in the planning stages (which was nowhere near as structured as it would be if I was starting out today), I made my plan for the novel itself and that was it. I then started writing and came away with all manner of headaches as I realised there wasn’t enough detail or depth to the story I was writing because I had not considered what was going on outside of the story. Specifically, before it all began.
For one thing, it has meant that I haven’t had to remember everything! I am very good at coming up with brilliant flashes of ideas at moments when there isn’t a pen in sight and then forgetting them when it comes to actually needing them.
In essence, spending time straightening out the pre-book events gave me a great deal of insight into the story I was writing. Given that the story originated in my head, you’d think that I would have all the ‘insight’ I need. If only that were the case.
Supposedly, this is meant to tease what is to come. Well, I’m sorry to break this to you, but that to me is not a prologue. It’s a spoiler, and frankly one that can be avoided. It is all very well wanting to whet your reader’s appetite, but by revealing a crucial scene too soon, you run the risk of that scene losing its impact later on. It also stands to reason that the beginning of your book should be strong enough on its own to keep the reader reading. If you don’t have that sort of confidence in your opening chapter, the answer is to redraft that, not to borrow from later in the story.
To me, the point of a prologue should be to show that the story has wider scope than just what the main character sees or understands. It is an opportunity to tease (actually tease, not spoil a later scene) at other things that may have an impact on the story.
Think of your good old-fashioned murder mysteries. How many times does the murder take place as a prologue to the book starting? The murder is committed and the story then begins with the main character examining the crime scene and piecing together what happened. This sort of trope can be applied to more than just murder mysteries. If the main character does not have a hand in setting the chain of events in motion in the story, who’s to say that the trigger can’t be told as a prologue?
I currently have around 
Target:
At the end of the month, I was also exhausted. When 1st December rolled around, I got home from work that day (it was a Friday) and my brain went, “
As I mentioned, I have worked out that I have about 
I’m not sure I’ve ever come across a novel which lacks dialogue altogether. I’ve read many novels and short stories in particular which are light on dialogue and some short stories which eschew dialogue entirely but I genuinely cannot think of a single novel which doesn’t have at least a few lines of dialogue.
When writing dialogue, we don’t want it to sound like a piece of genuine, real-life conversation. Why not? Well, listen carefully the next time you have a conversation with someone. How many times do they start and re-start a sentence? How often do they stop and stumble over what they’re saying? How many times do they say “um” and “ah” and “er”? What verbal ticks do they have, such as the tendency to say “like” and “basically” and “you know” every few words? How many sentences just run on and on? How many sentences are just fragments, not complete sentences at all?
Interestingly, this is an issue which I have noticed recently due to my re-discovery of podcasts. A number of extremely promising podcasts have (in my opinion) fallen down as a consequence of poor, stilted, overlong or rambling dialogue, and it’s a pet-hate of mine. Nothing switches me off from a podcast or audio book faster than bad dialogue, even if the story and acting are good.
This is excellent advice. Read your dialogue aloud, exactly as it appears on the page. It doesn’t have to be as if you’re giving a speech, just under your breath will be fine. If it sounds good, if it flows well, if you don’t stumble over it as you read it aloud, then you’re doing well. Give it tone and inflection, as if you’re voice-acting, and it’ll be easier to tell if it’s clunky or stilted.
Superfluous dialogue serves no purpose. If it doesn’t drive the plot forward, if it doesn’t further character development, if it isn’t funny, if it repeats something we already know, then it serves no purpose and needs to be cut. It doesn’t matter if you like it: if it doesn’t serve a purpose, it has no place in the finished product.
I’m not suggesting that anyone follows my personal rules for writing dialogue and use of punctuation to enhance the dialogue. Every writer needs to (and will) develop their own personal style and their own personal quirks. I know some who prefer hyphens or ellipses over em-dashes, others who prefer to use capitals over italics to show anger. What is important is honing a skill for good dialogue.
There have been times while working with this character where it has felt like I was playing charades with someone who had one hand tied behind his back. I was there making all sorts of guesses about what he was trying to put across, but nothing seemed to hit the mark. It was very frustrating.
Some writers truly take this to heart and every character in their work has a name with a significant meaning that reveals something about them or the role they are to play in the story. Just take a quick flick through the 
As a jumping-off point I have a book of baby names on my shelf that is my first point of reference (
In the end, he was named after a town in Cheshire, that I just happened to travel through on a 
The third factor came from 
If you want some more information about when to use and when to break these rules, I highly recommend you take a look at the video link below, where George R R Martin discusses the character names within the 
By way of a real-world example, my sister and I went to Whitby in North Yorkshire at the beginning of August. While driving around, we spotted signs to a village called 
Runcorn’s world is based on the Old West and the terrain is similar to the Utah/Arizona desert (specially Monument Valley). The first name I came up with for this fictional world was the 
As much as I wanted to use the name Miranda as one of the planets, I couldn’t. It felt too much like stealing. In the end, Miranda became one of the story’s main characters instead. The planets themselves were eventually named 
This last theme is a little harder to pin down, as I did not consciously set out to follow it (as I did with the two examples above). Going back to 
In terms of my writing, I can quite easily picture myself with a completed novel, sitting back and enjoying the relief of it. But how do I get to that point? What are the steps that I have to take to reach my desired destination?
I would assume this will be the same for everyone. The first step to writing any novel is the idea. One tiny spark of inspiration that quickly catches fire and blazes through your imagination.
I am aware that I may stand alone in naming things so early on, but honestly I love this part! Whether it’s coming up with names for characters, fictional places or the novel as a whole, I am quite happy to sit for a few hours coming up with lists of potential names.
As I have already covered a lot of ground on these aspects in recent posts (see the links below), I won’t go into too much detail here. This is the point at which I will define the boundaries and rules of the world I am creating and will also get to know the main characters I will be putting in charge of the story.
After working for a while, jotting extra ideas and changes into the margins of my plan, I realised it was becoming illegible. So, the proverbial pause button was pressed, and back to the drawing board I went.
So, there we are. From sharing Professor Quirrell’s frustration at the Mirror of Erised to my own desired destination in seven not-so-easy steps.
