The Novel Dream
I wanted to write a novel. I wanted to create my own fantasy epic. But I was only 15 and had no idea what I was doing, so all my planning consisted of was buying an A5 exercise book. (I was at my parents’ last week and scrounging around in the garage looking for something else entirely, and actually found the exercise book – right.) I’d stay up nights, pumping myself full of cups of tea and cigarettes, scribbling away while one of the midnight music shows of the time, like Rage, played in the background. The exercise book (and its successor) even accompanied me when my parents took me…
Short and Punchy
Some people probably think you go to school, or take courses, to learn how to write. While those are viable (developmental) options, I think you’re learning all the time. You learn through reading, and I used to read lots. I’d study the way the story was structured; how the punctuation functioned; the way the sentences told the story; the voice behind the story; how many characters there were, what each did, etc. TV and movies are also good educators, particularly in how structure works. And you pick up things from all sort of sources, or they influence the way you do things. When I was a kid, my writing suffered…