So you want to be a writer.... guess what?   So do I!  

 

Writing starts long, long before you finally put pen to paper in a novel.  I have been a reader all my life, and this is Stage One of learning how to develop your own style and voice.  You read, read, and read some more, you pay attention to the styles, hear the voices of the characters, and - if the story is well-written - you become lost in the characters, you can feel their emotions, sympathise with the victim, hate the villian.... this is the art of good writing.  To evoke a reaction in the reader, and draw them into your fictional world.  

 

I have been writing almost all of my life - but mostly, it was business articles, marketing paraphernalia, with the occasional short story thrown in for good measure.  I always loved English class in school, and in particular when we were set the task of writing a Comprehension, or story.  I often found it hard to contain it to the two or three pages the teacher set us, my mind finding new ways to deepen the story.  I dabbled in poetry, made a few pennies making artistic rhymes out of children's names, wrote things from the heart to those I loved...

 

I remember doing a short-story course many years ago with Glynn Croudace, a South Africa author and playwright who put us through our paces.  One thing he always stressed was this : write what you KNOW. And one of the first tasks he set us was to write a short story on something that had affected us.  So I wrote on someone close to me's attempted suicide.  It received a great review, even though I was only 19 at the time.  Years later, I finally get it.  

 

You cannot write a murder mystery if you are not familiar with how the process works, ie how to hunt down the killer.  For this, you would need to do research, interview policemen, find out the procedures.  In other words, if you don't know what you're talking about, RESEARCH!  This is where a lot of aspiring writers fall flat - they think they can wing it, but you need to understand that in order for a piece of writing to grab a reader, they must be able to relate to it, or at least feel that it is true.  

 

So my genre of comfort is emotions.  I am experienced in them, I have been through a lot of them, I have a sentient personality that gives me a depth of understanding perhaps more so than most people, and although sometimes this is a burden in itself, it does allow me to put myself into my characters' shoes and thereby capturing the essence of the moment.

 

Over the next while I will cover topics such as outlining plots, mind mapping, linking chapters, catalysts, and  chapter layouts.  We can move onto finding a suitable voice, personalising your characters, and leading the reader rather than shoving them face-first into the story.  We'll be looking at writing in the first and second person,  tenses, and grammar.  And the CORRECT USE OF THE APOSTROPHE!

 

Writing is an art, and like anything, it is never perfected.  

 

Is my novel perfect?  Not by a long shot.  But I had immense fun writing it, and a huge sense of achievement writing 100,000 words and typing "The End".  And if I do nothing more than inspire you to give it a go, then at least I have done something right.

 

Happy writing!

 

Patricia