Fiona Snyckers is the author of the acclaimed Trinity Rising, and Trinity on Air, which have earned an enthusiastic following for this Johannesburg based writer. Read the first five of her ten hottest tips for would be writers.
Take a Writing Course
1) For an inexperienced writer, I would strongly recommend taking a reputable writing course. This is something I never did. Instead I spent years studying the techniques of my favourite writers until I felt confident enough to put them into practice. A writing course is a short-cut way to accomplish the same thing.
Writers should feel free to experiment and "break the rules", but you can't break the rules until you know what they are.
Creative Writing: Find the Time of Day that Works Best for You
2) Find a time of day that works for you. Get to know your own diurnal rhythms. Are you a lark or a night-owl? Do your creative juices start flowing early in the morning, or late at night, or somewhere in between? Another writer's writing routine will not necessarily work for you. Try to figure out what your most natural time of the day is and apply yourself to writing then.
Writing a Novel: Find your Best Writing Method
3) Do you work best with a pen in your hand, a keyboard under your fingertips, or talking into a dictaphone? This is a personal choice that no one else can make for you. A couple of years ago, I found that my concentration was slipping every time I sat down in front of the computer. So I started dictating my chapters instead. That worked for a while, but now I find I work best propped up in bed with a laptop. Go with what works for you - not what anyone else advises.
Write your Novel: Avoid Online Distractions
4) Try to limit your online time while you are writing. The internet represents the single biggest threat to a writer's concentration this century. Never before have we had such ease of research at our fingertips, coupled with such a seductive distraction. Writing is a lonely life, which makes it all the more tempting to waste hours online. But you are only selling yourself short if you do.
Creative Writing: Find your Strongest Medium
5) Part of getting to know yourself as a writer is working out what form of writing suits you best. If you are a natural poet, then you should possibly not be trying to write a novel. On the other hand, if you can't express yourself in fewer than 100,000 words, you should probably not be trying your hand at short stories. Of course, there are many writers who cross these boundaries comfortably, but as a novice writer it certainly helps to be working in your strongest medium.
In Five Hints for Creative Writers, Fiona Snyckers discusses more things that writers can do to help them begin a successful career as a published author.
You can also learn more about how this acclaimed writer goes about starting to write a new book.
Helen Brain - I am a writer and writing teacher, living in Cape Town, South Africa. I published my first book in 1997, and now have over thirty books ...
