The Writing Coach - Column from Woman’s Way Magazine

Week 1

But where to start?

It’s terrifying, isn’t it, staring at a blank sheet of paper or a blank computer screen? The writer Gene Fowler once famously said

Writing is easy. All you do is stare at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead.

But that’s where I come in. Over the course of the next few weeks I’ll try to demystify the writing process and help you find your writing wings. I’ll also ask some experienced authors to give you some of their own writing tips. And do email me any writing related questions and I’ll do my best to answer them every week. My email address is sarah@sarahwebb.info

I look forward to reading some of your work in the future. We all have to start somewhere and 2005 might just be the year you get published. Good luck!

 

Before we start, there are three general pieces of advice that I always give to would-be writers -

1) Be optimistic, plan for a miracle - unknown writers get published every day, so why not you?

2) Work hard, but never let writing become a chore. If you’re not enjoying writing, your reader is not going to enjoy reading.

3) Develop a thick skin and never take no for an answer. Get used to rejection, it comes with the territory.

So here we go:

The first thing you need to be a writer is motivation. You have to really, really want to write. It may sound obvious but a lot of people have a vague idea that they’d like to write some day, but few people actually sit down and get on with it. So first, motivate yourself. Tell yourself that it’s not going to be easy, but if you work hard and put your heart and soul into it you will succeed, you will write.

Then make the time to actually write. This may sound obvious but being a writer means making sacrifices. ‘I’d write a book if only I had the time.’ ‘I have this amazing idea for a book but I’m too busy to write it.’ Does this sound familiar? Is it you?

How many hours a week do you spend watching television, in the pub, talking to friends on the phone, surfing the internet, listening to music? Be honest.

Switching off the television in the evenings is a very good place to start. Try inventing your own soap operas instead and translating it to paper - soon you’ll keep yourself entertained and have the makings of a book to show for it. The best way to actually finish a short story or a novel is by writing a little a day on a regular basis - there’s no real secret, you just have to stick at it.

Now that you’re mentally prepared and have made the time to write, what do you need to get physically started? Well, the good news is you don’t need the latest laptop; you don’t actually need a computer at all to begin with. All you need is a notebook and a pen. It’s that simple.

But before you put finger to keyboard or pen to paper, you need to start thinking about a genre. What’s genre? It simply means the type of commercial fiction you want to write. For example are you interested in writing comedy like Marian Keyes, romance like Cathy Kelly, crime like Patricia Cornwell, thrillers like Dan Brown? I would suggest the type of book you like to read is a good place to start. More about genre next week, but in the meantime have a think about what genre might suit you and your writing.

So now you’ve made a really positive start - you’re motivated, you’ve made time to write, you have a pen and paper at the ready and you’ve started to think about a genre. Next week I’ll talk about inspiration and coming up with ideas.

Happy writing!

Sarah

This column first appeared in Woman’s Way Magazine in 2005