Email: Want to write a fiction, just started. Any tips? (Canada)
Great idea. Always thought had a novel in me, as well. Find self creatively conjuring up scenarios, characters, settings, plots! Many believe writing a novel has to be hard, takes too much time, overwhelming, no idea where to start.
Guess, the secret is to naturally flow, live in the story, quick capture of thoughts. Once we know where we’re going, all fears of ‘I can’t do it’ melt away. Iron out big picture from very beginning. Set ideas free to let characters, settings, actions, characterisation’s come alive. Easy to follow, compact, comprehensive (comic, humour, wit).
Find patient, relaxed time, place to write. Passionately plan step-by-step, authentically. Create great connected characters. Clear sense of the purpose of sub-plots. Discover importance of emotional impact, how to create it. Stimulate, motivate self. Visualise characters, dive into sources of imagination. What would that sense of achievement, creative expression feel like?
Nicolas Sparks, ‘Writing last page of 1st draft is most enjoyable moment in writing. It’s one of most enjoyable moments in life, period’.
Finally, believe ‘I have a book in me’!