Are you struggling to complete the novel you started? Or want to write one but don't know where to start? Writing a novel is a complicated and sometimes a long drawn-out process. However, it can be divided into five steps. These five stages of writing a novel can vary a little from author to author, … [Read more...]
Advice for New Authors: Five sure-fire ways to find your book’s genre
You’ve finally written your book and now people keep asking you what genre your book falls into. But the last thing you want to do is to pop your valued, unique work into a box, so you say, ‘It doesn’t really fit into any genre.’ Wrong, I'm afraid. On Amazon Kindle store there are thousands of … [Read more...]
Advice for New Writers Part 9: When to Start Editing?
When should you start editing your work? This can be a tricky decision. Do you wait until you've reached a certain amount of words? Or when there's an 'r' in the month or a full moon? Perhaps you've got into the habit of editing as you go along? Editing while you write I used to edit while I wrote … [Read more...]
Advice for New Writers Part 8: How to Build an Author Platform
In my previous post I discussed why an author needs to establish a way to communicate with his or her readers, or build an author platform. In this, 8th post in the series, Advice to New Writers, I talk a little about how to go about building such a platform. What Does Your Author Profile Look … [Read more...]
Advice for New Writers Part 6: Traditional or Self-publish?
In this series of posts on Advice to New Authors, I've talked about writing the 1st draft, about editing your work, how to increase the speed of your writing, how long it takes to publish a novel, and about ways in which you can learn your craft. Today I'm going to talk about self-publishing versus … [Read more...]
5 Ways to Learn Your Craft: Advice for New Writers Part 5
In the previous posts I wrote about how practise makes perfect, but I also said that writing, like any form of art is something that can be taught. You need aptitude and talent too, but these two alone may not be enough to make you into a successful author. Learning you Craft In this post I will … [Read more...]
Advice for New Writers Part 4: How to Increase the Speed of Writing
In Part 2 of this series of posts, I talked about editing your work, and how the first draft is always just that, a draft – an incomplete piece of writing. Having said that, without getting those words out, without that first draft, you cannot move forward and produce a finished product - your … [Read more...]
I’m a NaNoWriMo Winner!
When I started the National Novel Writing Month challenge, I wasn't at all sure I'd be able to make it. Writing the best part of a novel (50,000 words) in 30 days seemed an insurmountable task. All my previous NaNoWriMo attempts had produced less than 20,000 words, and those novels that … [Read more...]
Advice for New Writers Part 3: How Long Does It Take to Write and Publish a Novel?
This is number three in a series of posts about writing and publishing fiction. You can find the previous posts here. How long does it take to get your novel into print (or out in ebook form)? Writing a novel takes time. How long a first draft takes to produce is highly personal, but at … [Read more...]
Advice for New Writers Part 2: I’ve Completed the First Draft – What Now?
Last time in this series of posts about what to do if you have an idea for a book, I talked about reading in your genre and writing as much as possible. Today, I'm going to talk about what to do when you've finished the first draft. What to Do When You've Completed the First Draft? When you've … [Read more...]
