This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
With 13 novels published, all bestsellers and translated into many languages, we’ve always wanted to learn Freya North’s writing secrets. As you can imagine, there was much excitement when Freya stopped by to share her top 5 writing tips recently. Pencils at the ready!
1. Know your characters’ back-stories. You might never use details – but those details must be known or your characters will be two-dimensional and the reader will find it difficult to empathize.
2. There must be fact in fiction – even if you make something up, it has to be completely grounded in truth or your readers will see through it. Never scrimp on research. You must dive in deep into the world in which your novel is set.
3. Don’t stick rigidly to what you think your story is about. If it starts taking a life of its own – embrace it and let it unfold organically. You should be your characters’ PA, not their puppeteer.
4. Look after your body. Sit correctly – ergonomics are crucial to productivity. I do Alexander Technique classes, I sit on a ‘back-friend’, I use a separate keyboard for my laptop and I drink lots of water.
5. You have to write. You just have to get the words out – especially those days when you just don’t feel like it. This is your job, your career, you have to be serious about it and diligent. Letter after letter makes word after word – then a sentence, a paragraph and finally chapter. Don’t judge yourself by word-count, but by whether or not you’ve written from a place deep in ‘the zone’. You just have to knuckle down and force your way in there some days. It frustrates me so much when people assume that if it’s easy to read, it’s easy to write. It’s hard graft – but I can’t think of anything I’d rather do!
The Turning Point by Freya North is out now.