Write That Book – Week 7 – Proposals and Agents

On February 28, 2012 · In Getting Published, Rewriting and Editing, The Writing Coach, Writing for Children

Welcome to week seven of Write That Book. If you’ve just stumbled upon this blog, weeks one to six, covering getting started, characters, plot and editing may also be of use to you.
Once you’ve finished your manuscript and have rewritten it many, many times and copy-edited it meticulously, you will need to find an agent or a publisher. I’ll deal with why you need an agent below (and in some cases you don’t), but first, titles.

Book Titles

Book titles are very important. They say a lot about a book. Some writers find titles easy, for others it’s like pulling teeth. And it can differ with every book.
In the world of popular fiction/romantic comedy, I’ve always liked Katie Fforde’s titles: Thyme Out, Practically Perfect, Highland Fling. Maeve Binchy’s titles are also excellent – simple and catchy – Tara Road, Nights of Rain and Stars, Circle of Friends.

On the children’s side, I’ve always loved the quirky Are You There, God? It’s Me, Margaret as a title. It shouldn’t work, but it does. How to Train Your Dragon, The Boy in the Striped Pyjamas, Under the Hawthorne Tree, Ballet Shoes, Skulduggery Pleasant, Artemis Fowl – all fantastic, memorable titles. It’s hard to …

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Write That Book – Week 6 – Editing

On February 20, 2012 · In Getting Published, The Writing Coach

Welcome to Write That Book, the free eight week online writing course. If you’ve missed weeks one to five, covering getting started, characters, plot and lots more, it might be helpful to read them first.

This week we’ll be taking about editing. Once you’ve finished the first draft, then comes the hard bit, the edits and the rewrites. Yes, plural. The first draft is just the beginning. Have patience. Rewrites make the difference between a published writer and an unpublished writer.

Before you even think of sending your book out to an agent or to a publisher, you must make it as good as you possibly can. Some people are excellent at editing their own work, others need help. Here is how I edit a manuscript before it goes anywhere near my agent or editor:

I print out the whole manuscript, read it and make notes as I go along in a (yellow) notebook. If you read this blog on a regular basis, you’ll know that I’m addicted to yellow legal pads.

Some authors suggest waiting a little while before reading. William Trevor puts his writing in a drawer for a year before taking it out to work on it again, and although it …

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Write That Book – Week 5 – Staying Motivated

On February 10, 2012 · In Getting Published, The Writing Coach

Welcome to week 5 of Write That Book. If you’re new to the blog, I’d recommend reading weeks 1 to 4 first. This week are are talking about motivation.

Sometimes writers get to around 30k or 40k words and then they hit a wall. They say ‘There is so much more to write, so much more work involved, I don’t think I can do this.’ It’s important to note that all writers have off days or weeks, published or unpublished, and it’s important to develop a ‘writing habit’ if you want to finish a whole book. As Clare Dowling says in this week’s excellent writing tips (below) ‘writing is a craft and the best way to learn it is to practice.’

But how do you stay motivated?

All writers find writing a book tough going. The average novel is 100,000 words long after all. I often hit a difficult patch roughly half way through a book, knowing that I still have a lot of work ahead of me. It’s perfectly normal to feel a bit overwhelmed at any stage of the writing process. You are writing a book after. And if you are a huge reader like me, you have …

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Write That Book – Wk 4 – Plot

On February 5, 2012 · In Getting Published, The Writing Coach

Welcome to week four of Write That Book. So far we have covered motivation and getting started, genre, ideas and creating characters. This week we will talk about ‘plot’, or story.

The first question I am always asked regarding plot is how do you come up with a story in the first place, and the second question is how do you plan a book, and indeed, should you plan at all?

I’ll answer the second question first – there is no right or wrong way of plotting a book. Many writers – the crime writer James Lee Burke for example – never use plot outlines. They just write blind. At the other extreme the author Jeffrey Deavers outlines are almost as long as his books, and J K Rowling spent months planning each Harry Potter book carefully. For most people, plotting is a process of trial and error and it may take a while to find what suits you as a writer. Using a plot outline is a method that works for many writers starting out.

What’s a plot outline?

A plot outline is simply an outline of how your story is going to progress. There’s no need to stick rigidly to your outline …

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