Suzy Cox is the
Deputy Editor of Cosmopolitan magazine and author of The Dead Girls Detective
Agency. Here are her top five writing tips.
1. If you get to a
section where you’re stuck, just keep going. If you try to make every sentence
Pulitzer-perfect as you go along, you’ll never finish the thing. You can
re-draft, re-write and describe the flowers on your characters’ wallpaper later.
2. Enlist three good
friends. One to brainstorm with, another to read chapters blind, and a third
who has NO interest in your novel whatsoever to take you to the pub, get you
drunk and take your mind off (in my case) dead teenagers.
3. Know your characters
inside out. What they wear, where they shop, the worst track on their iPod, and
what they secretly do when no one’s watching.
4. Sometimes you
produce your best work when you really didn’t think you were in the mood. Just
turn on your laptop and get to it!
5. Back everything
up. Twice. It saves a lot of tears and swearing. Oh, and beware Wikipedia –
it’s a time sponge. Evil YouTube too. In fact, just switch the internet off.