Top tips for budding novelists
Advice from author Kate Mosse
Ever dreamed of writing a book? Writer Kate Mosse is author of the bestselling novel Labyrinth and co-founder of the Orange prize for fiction - and these are her six tips on getting started...
1) Try to write every day - five minutes' writing are better than no minutes writing!
2) Carry a notebook – you think you’ll remember that great idea you have when you’re walking round the supermarket but you rarely do! You don’t have to write the whole scene down, but find trigger words that will remind you of the specific moment or thought you had.
3)Dissect everything. You cannot be a good writer unless you are a good reader. Every author I’ve ever read has, in some way, contributed to my own writing. Remember, in terms of improving your own skill and craft you can learn as much from books you dislike or don’t value as from those you admire.
4) Set yourself realistic goals – it’s better to think in a long term way.
5) Have a structure. Novels need to have a beginning, middle and end. You need to set the scene, develop the scene and you need to do the whacking great full stop when you get to the end of the book. Structure really matters – without it imagination doesn’t count for very much.
6) Be physically comfortable when you’re writing so that you aren’t easily distracted and nothing gets in the way of your creative work.
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