This post was originally published at Novelicious.com and is now at WritingTipsOasis.com. WritingTipsOasis.com acquired Novelicious.com in June 2022.
Rachael English is an Irish broadcaster who presents the radio show, Morning Ireland. Her first novel, Going Back, is part of six figure two book deal that she recently signed with Orion, and is inspired by her own experiences of visiting Boston as a student in 1988. Here are her top five tips for writing.
1. Don’t let your fear hold you back.
You could spend forever planning and procrastinating. Get started. You don’t
have to tell anybody until you’ve reached a stage where your work isn’t too embarrassing.
2. Don’t try to be somebody else. You’ll only ever be a second rate version of them.
3. Read all the rules and the tips, but don’t be too constrained by them. For example, my book, Going Back, is told from several points of view. I kept reading that this was not a good idea. Neither my editor nor anybody else at Orion considered it a problem.
4. Read a lot. Read all sorts of books. Without becoming too obsessive or too much of a copy-cat, make a note of what works and what doesn’t.
5. Stephen King has a wonderful line in On Writing about writing being the playground. Even at its worst, he says, it’s still pretty damned good. Who am I to argue? Making things up is great fun. Enjoy yourself.