Tag Archives: writing tips

SISTER SCRIBES GUEST: JEN GILROY ON FINDING YOUR WRITING VOICE

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Since Susanna Bavin introduced Canadian romance author Jen Gilroy to us at a Romantic Novelists’ Association conference she has been an honorary Sister Scribe and it’s an absolute delight to welcome her to Frost.

One of the questions I’m often asked when giving talks about writing relates to ‘voice’ and, specifically, how to find it.

For some writers, voice is instinctive. If you’re one of those fortunate people, this post likely isn’t for you!

However, for many others (me included) finding your ‘voice’ isn’t so straightforward.

First off, what is ‘voice?’

For me, it’s what makes one author’s fiction distinctive from that of another. At a superficial level, it relates to word choice, syntax and the mechanics of constructing a story.

Going deeper, though, voice reflects each author’s personal experience—the constellation of factors that make them who they are—as distinctive as their fingerprint.

A tip to identify voice?

Choose books by three favourite authors, set them side-by-side and consider the first few pages. Even if they write in the same genre, it’s likely that in only those early pages you’ll identify major differences in how the writer tells the story and makes you feel.

Those differences are rooted in voice and some authors have such distinctive voices that fans can often identify their work in only a short paragraph—without knowing the book’s title or author.

However, even if you know what ‘voice’ is and can identify it in other writers, how do you find yours?

For me, finding my voice was part of my writing apprenticeship and (as with many other parts of learning the craft) necessitated trial and error.

In the beginning, I sampled genres a bit like food at a tapas bar. From literary fiction through to young adult, historical and more, I tried writing in a number of different areas.

Yet, and like delicious tapas morsels, only one or two genres resonated enough for me to think I’d truly found my own ‘author voice.’

What does ‘voice’ feel like?

I liken my ‘voice’ to wearing my favourite pair of cosy slippers as I snuggle under a blanket by the fire on a cold winter night.

That ‘voice’ is drawn from the innermost part of myself and means I delve into emotions only I feel to express them on the page.

At first, that self-reflection was scary. With career in corporate and technical writing, I was so used to adopting a ‘corporate voice’ that I’d lost my own, and I’d also lost touch with the emotions that are the foundation of fiction.

Yet, with practice and patience—and by reading and writing widely—I dug deep enough to get to that comfortable state of knowing when I was writing in my voice—and when I figured that out, the genres were obvious.

Long before I became a writer, romance and women’s fiction were the genres I read for hope, comfort, escape and more. Not surprisingly, those were also the books that fit my voice and when I started to write from the foundation of who I truly am, the words flowed.

Although finding my voice was one of the most difficult parts of my writing journey, it was also the most rewarding. And, perhaps most importantly, writing with the warmth and intuition that comes from the core of who I am is the most honest gift I can give.

 

Jen Gilroy writes romance and uplifting women’s fiction with happy, hopeful endings. She’s a wife and mum who calls England and Canada home and her latest release, A Wish in Irish Falls, is out now on Kindle (free with Kindle Unlimited).

Connect with Jen via her website: www.jengilroy.com

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES: JANE CABLE ON TAKING THE SOFTWARE OPTION

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Plotter or notter? Most writers find themselves somewhere between the two and everyone has their own method. Some are wedded to post-its and pinboards; others long pages of notes. Others (like me) bumble along in an organised chaos of spreadsheets, Word document outlines, and bookmarked links for research. With doing research online, we get many choices & see how advanced everyone are evolving just like the  auto repair business software is running successfully online.

I always promised myself that one day, all that muddle would change. Next time I started a new project it would be different. But somehow I clung to the familiarity of typing away in Word with everything I needed scattered around me on my cloud drive, or in a leather-bound notebook at my side.

So – new book, new broom. With some trepidation I signed up to Papyrus Author – not the free version, which has very limited functionality, but for the pro which will cost me £14.99 a month. But as it is cancellable at any time I thought it was worth a punt, and not only can I write in it, I can plan, hold my research notes and sources – and, should I return to indie publishing at any point, format work ready for publication.

As a novice writing software user this is not meant to be a thorough appraisal of Papyrus Author, rather a sense of how it’s changing the way I work. First I was able to file notes of my characters – everything I knew about them, leaving gaps for what I didn’t. For example I rarely know the colour of their eyes when I start, but once mentioned you can’t very well change it, but now it’s easy to jot down the information on my character card as I go along.

It’s the same for places. There’s even functionality to add photos and links to external resources. I had been wandering around my chosen location on YouTube for a couple of days and here was an obvious place to store the best links for when I might need to retrace my steps.

Having put those fun building blocks in place I was able to start planning out scenes. Yes, planning. One scene at a time, not just a vague roadmap. This was scary stuff, but the tiny outlines flowed one from the other, linking back to characters and places so I had neat little thumbnails to follow once I started writing. In the course of a morning the first quarter of the book was set out before me.

So – to write. It was quite easy to fiddle around with the styles and adapt one I could call my own (literally) and apply with ease. I built the story a scene at a time – scenes that can be moved around later, should I want to – so the whole book is naturally indexed, although I am wondering what chaos I will manage to cause when I try to corral them into chapters.

But best of all for me is the is a distraction free mode to write in. Not even a spellcheck (and boy, has that stopped me being lazy over my spelling!). Words tumble onto the page. Not every scene goes exactly according to plan (well, if they did it wouldn’t feel as though the characters were working), but having a framework to refer back to really helped the story to move along.

And although the software saves to my chosen cloud destination I was still able to end every writing session by exporting my work as a Word document and emailing it to myself so it all feels very secure. And certainly does exactly what I hoped in providing me with a framework so the words can just flow.

BEST-SELLING AUTHOR LIZZIE CHANTREE ON NETWORKING FOR WRITERS

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Are you swamped with book marketing and looking for a way to find new readers? Do you feel that you spend more of your day looking at social media than writing? You aren’t alone! Writing books can be an incredible way to meet likeminded people in the writing community, but it can also feel quite isolating at times. There is so much talent around that imposter syndrome can sink it’s greedy claws into you and make you procrastinate, or doubt your journey. Now is the time to shake that off, believe in yourself and to take a good look at the balance between writing time and marketing. Can you streamline what is actually working for you and what is not?

Whether you are a new or experienced writer, self-published or traditionally published, there are ways to grow your readership and author network, through some of the most powerful of all marketing tools – word of mouth and recommendation.  In my latest book, Networking for writers, I explain how to use simple and effective networking approaches, to grow your readership and connect with other authors and book lovers.

When I published my first book, I had no idea about marketing and even the thought of the word made my legs tremble. Today, I see it as an interesting and exciting part of my day, that doesn’t eat into my writing time. What a difference a few years can make. I have been very fortunate that all of my books to date have become international bestsellers in multiple categories and I believe this is due to my network. I ran my own award winning retail and wholesale business and worked as a competition judge and mentor for many years, before I began my writing career and I had already built a strong network around me, which helped me launch a writing career, even as an unknown author. My first contemporary romance book, Babe Driven, still sits in the bestseller lists, seven years after it was first published. I attribute this to my incredible community of support, which grows daily, due to easy to learn techniques.

Networking is about being social, but it is also about structure, discipline and focus. In my book I offer insight into the tools I use to stay productive, find writing time and to have room left to step away from work and give myself space to breathe and let creativity blossom.

In Networking for writers, I talk about author branding and why it’s important, groups that help writers thrive, how to grow your social media organically and I give tips about how a few straightforward tweaks can make marketing much more affective. I mention how I learnt to host multi-author book signings, run seminars about networking and event planning, to have a strong social media following and more. These skills have given me a great foundation, not only to write fiction books about feisty entrepreneurs, but to be able to share my networking ideas with my readers, in the hope that it helps them to follow their own dreams and creative path.

 

Lizzie Chantree started her own business at the age of 18 and became one of Fair Play London and The Patent Office’s British Female Inventors of the Year in 2000. She discovered her love of writing fiction when her children were little and now works as a business mentor and runs a popular networking hour on social media. She writes books full of friendship and laughter, that are about women with unusual and adventurous businesses, who are far stronger than they realise. She lives with her family on the coast in Essex. Visit her website at www.lizziechantree.com.

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES: SUSANNA BAVIN ON A WORD WRITERS SHOULD USE FREELY

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I say, I say, I say…

When you were at school, were you taught to avoid using ‘said’ in your writing? Were you told it was dull? Were you instructed to use other, better words? Let me explain why teachers try to get you to do that. It isn’t because there’s anything wrong with ‘said’. It’s because teachers have to teach children from a young age (a) to use a variety of vocabulary and (b) to find words that convey precise meaning. ‘Strolled’, ‘wandered’, ‘hurried’ or ‘marched’, as opposed to ‘walked’ – that kind of thing. If you think about it, that’s quite a tall order, especially with infant school children.

And so we come to the first reason why ‘said’ is a wonderful word. It has umpteen alternatives, all of which convey precise meaning. Children are already familiar with many of these words and find them easy to use, which means that when they write their stories, they have ample opportunity to use and develop their new skill and hence their stories are filled with characters asking, answering, replying, exclaiming, whispering, shouting and so on.

And that is why teachers tell you not to use ‘said’. Ta da!

In the world of adult writing, it’s different, because – and here we come to the second reason why I believe ‘said’ is a wonderful word – ‘said’ is invisible. You could read it or write it a dozen times on every single page without its ever jarring. Every time an alternative is used, it isn’t invisible. There’s nothing wrong with that – in moderation. But the more times alternatives are used, and the wider their variety, the more visible they become.

I’m thinking of a novel I read some years ago in which the author seemed determined to avoid ‘said’ at all costs. The characters did all the usual things – they asked, answered, replied and exclaimed. They also did more ‘visible’ things – they wondered, whispered, chuckled and muttered. They shouted, snorted, cajoled and observed. They mentioned, uttered, declared and ranted. And it was all highly visible. Every single one of those verbs (which would have thrilled any primary school teacher – I speak as a former infant school teacher) was visible and the more of them there were, the more visible they became. For ‘more visible,’ read ‘more annoying.’

Then, in the middle of an argument, the heroine riposted.

After 200 pages of confirming, suggesting, murmuring and giggling, it was the final, pretentious straw. I didn’t know whether to laugh out loud or groan in anguish. I closed the book and never went back to it.

Sorry about my little rant, but I hope it’s helped to illustrate my point. Humble, under-rated ‘said’ is a dependable workhorse of a word. Use it freely and don’t let anybody put you off.

And unless you want me to come back and haunt you, please don’t ever let your characters do any riposting.

 

SISTER SCRIBES GUEST: KIRSTEN INTERVIEWS WRITER AND TUTOR CHRIS MANBY

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Today I ask the questions of Chris Manby.  Chris was the tutor on my very first retreat and we have since become good friends. Over to you, Chris.

  • First off the blocks. Plotter or pantser?

Definitely a plotter! I used to be a pantser but a series of short deadlines meant I had to get a strategy. I use screenplay principles to work out what needs to happen when though of course I often stray from my plan

  • How do you organise your work?

I’m a real geek.  When I get my deadline, I work out a timetable with daily word count based on the average length of a novel.  I make sure I allow myself weekends off (though rarely take them).  Then I just get writing.  I don’t stick to rigid hours but I do stick to daily word counts.

  • What is the hardest part of writing?

Getting through the mid-section of a book without losing pace and enthusiasm. Plotting helps as it means I can write something from the end instead and often that will inform what needs to happen in the middle.

  • And what is the most rewarding?

Most rewarding is returning to a manuscript after a week or so away from it and thinking “that’s actually not so bad”.

  • How has your writing style developed over time?

Photo credit: Michael Pilkington

I’m not sure my style has developed much at all!  I still think the first short story I had published –when I was fourteen – is one of the most elegant things I’ve ever written.  But I do now avoid swearing in my books. American readers in particular don’t like it.

  • What do you see as the greatest success of your writing career?

In the noughties, I had a few top ten bestsellers. That was wonderful.  But what felt like real success was when my sister said she loved one of my novels! It was The Worst Case Scenario Cookery Club.

  • And what was the deepest disappointment?

Any book that doesn’t sell is a disappointment but after twenty years I’m learning not to equate sales figures with a book’s intrinsic merits. I know my best-selling books are far from my best work!

  • Talk us through how you develop your characters.

In the same way we get to know a new friend.  The more time you spend with them, the better you know their quirks, their hopes and their dreams. Sometimes characters surprise me.

  • Sister Scribes is all about women writers supporting each other. Do you have a ‘go to’ bunch of fellow female writers you value and rely on?

I met a wonderful bunch of women in 2000 when, together with Fiona Walker and Jessica Adams, I edited an anthology called Girls’ Night In for War Child. Lucy Dillon and Alexandra Potter are two great friends from those days.  They’re always up for a glass of fizz and a chinwag.  More recently, through the Place To Write I’ve made some fantastic new friends, who are always ready with a word of encouragement. I don’t often show writer friends my work in progress though. I’m easily discouraged by faint praise. Better not to risk it.

  • Can you tell us anything about your next project(s)

I’ve just finished a ghost-writing project and now have three months to write a novel.  Fortunately, it’s already planned to the “nth” degree.  It’s called “What the Heart Sees” and the hero is… well, he’s small, dark and very, very hairy.

 

 

SISTER SCRIBES: JANE CABLE ON PLANNING FOR CREATIVITY

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It’s the first morning of the decade and I’m making plans. Or rather I’m ordering dreams and prioritising my wish list, licking them into some sort of order. But shouldn’t the magic of creativity just be allowed to flow?

To my mind that’s a ridiculously self indulgent approach when you have chosen writing as a career. Having some sort of plan is so much better than sitting at a crossroads scratching your head. I have so many ideas for books I’ll probably never write them all – but which should I be following up? And what else needs to be done to make them successful?

Over the last few years I’ve developed a plan for planning – an easy ‘to do’ list for January 1st (or thereabouts), which keeps me on track.

  • Scrawl a quick review of the previous year in two sections – what went well, and what didn’t. Coming straight off the top of your head helps focus on what’s been important to you; what you need to do more of and what needs putting right.
  • Consider how you’d like to develop your writing life this year in each and every direction. For me the most important things are to understand more about (and hopefully write!) books with stronger hooks, and to find out more about winning at Amazon. Once you’ve worked out what your priorities are, allow yourself to dream a little – where would you like to be in five years’ time? How will this year’s plans help you to get there?
  • Now you have the basics you can set out your goals for the year. In my business life I had many clients who used the SMART system (specific, measurable, attainable, relevant and timely) and they’re a pretty good rule of thumb for writing too. Except I quibble a little with ‘attainable’ here, because I like to think in writing we continue to grow beyond our current skill sets – and what’s wrong with stretching ourselves anyway?
  • Next write down what you’re not going to do this year. It may sound a bit negative, but most people are prone to a bit (or a lot) of time wasting so cutting the draining tasks from your life is actually one of the most productive things you can do. One of my weaknesses is volunteering for too much so I’ve promised myself nothing new this year.
  • Then write down what you are going to do – the things that will make the biggest difference to your reaching your goals. What works in your writing life? What makes you feel good about it? What do you have to do more of to succeed?
  • The last part of my plan is to break down my goals and put them on a timeline. I do a rough quarterly guide, then an action plan for the first few months of the year. This will develop as projects move on. I also use quite small boxes for each month so I’m not tempted to overfill them and tackle too much too soon. I have a tendency to want everything to happen now, so this is very useful in spreading the workload. And, of course, it leaves room for some all important flexibility. Because even in the most ordered of worlds, real life happens.

So all this comes with a caveat: you can only plan everything when you are in control of everything. And in writing, as with most careers, you’re not. I was expecting my next book to be out by now, but it isn’t. Nobody’s fault – just one of those things. And I suspect when I look back this time next year there will be other things that haven’t happened too. But without any plan at all, I wouldn’t even know where to start.

 

 

My Writing Process – Roger Bray

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I was raised in Blackburn, Lancashire and served for ten years in the Royal Navy before coming to Australia in 1983, after I returned from the Falklands. Writing is something I have always enjoyed and fiction was a favourite.  I loved being able to write anything within the bounds of the particular subject and not be restrained by anything except my imagination.  One restraint I did learn at school was other people’s perceptions of what is age appropriate for a juvenile to be writing.  Apparently graphic death scenes weren’t. 

My writing stayed in the background for many years until I was invited to write short stories for a couple of magazines which were well-received.  I then dabbled with a novel for a couple of years before getting into my stride and writing my first publication The Picture.

At the moment I am halfway through my fourth novel, currently untitled.  It is a story set in the UK and across Europe and deals with sex trafficking and organised crime from the perspective of an investigative journalist who is fighting his own battle with past tragedy while trying, against his better judgement to report what he has found.

As with all my novels I come up with a very broad idea of where I can see the story going.  I write and rewrite parts and scenes in my mind until I see a path then I commence.  That is how far I plan, maybe I’ll do some research at the start to get me on the right track but broadly speaking, once I start I write linearly.  I stop and research as I go and edit sections before moving on.  My word count is whatever I manage for the day but overall I aim for 90 – 100,00 words for a novel +/- as the editing progresses from me to beta readers and to my editor.

My basic day of writing would be re-read what I had last written, editing as I go.  I find this gets me back into the moment.  I then continue and write until I run out of steam or find myself veering off or woffling to pad out the chapter.  Either way that is the end for the day be it 3 or 8 hours later.  Rinse and repeat the next day until finished.

The hardest part of writing isn’t any sort of blockage, though they happen but I tend to get over them by just writing — sitting down and writing, getting words onto the page is, I have found the best solution.  Even if what you have written isn’t great it gets the process moving along and gives you something to edit.  It is difficult to edit a blank page.  The hardest part for me is staying within the storyline.  I have some great ideas which, unfortunately, don’t fit the arc, but I can waste hours trying to make them fit because I think they are so good — usually mistakenly.

In my current novel I have edited the first 2/3 of the novel to delete some of these great ideas I had but have turned into a bit of a millstone later on, something I have to be firm about.

I find the least enjoyable part is the whole process from writing The End onward.  There are lots of moments of doubt once I release my latest to a broader audience (broader than me and my wife’s cat).  Is it great or is it rubbish?  Typos – the bane of my life, plot holes or bits that grate when read?  All these things need identifying and fixing.  Nothing wrong with having any of them, that’s life as a writer but the process of sorting it out is no longer writing, no longer imagination and art.  It’s a drudge.

Any advice I can give? Keep going — you don’t fail until you stop trying.  Writer’s block?  No such thing — keep writing through, it, you can edit rubbish, you cannot edit a blank, tear stained page.

Website https://rogerbraybooks.com/ 

Facebook https://www.facebook.com/rogerbraybooks/ 

Twitter https://twitter.com/rogerbray22 

My Writing Process – Valerie Holmes

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Valerie HolmesMy childhood memories of growing up in a North Yorkshire coastal town are vivid. The flat sandy bays, marram grass covered dunes, salt marshes, woodland and moors provided a natural playground. The Tees estuary to the north was industrialised, but the natural beauty of the sweeping bays and rugged headlands down to the ancient port of Whitby has a fascinating history. My mother had Multiple Sclerosis and died too young, so walking my dog and exploring the outdoors was important to me.

I love writing and am an experienced creative writing tutor independently and for The London School of Journalism and Writing Magazine. 

The Yorkshire Saga series, published by Sapere Books, is set in the region in early nineteenth century. I have had over 40 novellas published by F A Thorpe, both romance and mystery – historical and contemporary.

The third book in The Yorkshire Saga series ‘To Have and To Hold’ is published on 17th June, and the fourth ‘In Sickness and In Health’ has just been delivered to Sapere.

They are all set in or around the same fictitious villages of Gorebeck and Ebton nestled in the shadow of the headland of Stangcliffe (based on Saltburn and Huntcliffe). 

Set against social changes as a result of the wars with France: smuggling, espionage, press-gangs etc. I have been researching the era and the region for years.

A bit about your process of writing.  & What about word count?

 I write 1000-1500 words a day. The next day I will return to the work of the previous one and overwrite it, then add on the new words for that day, repeating the process until I have reached a satisfying ending and an acceptable total wordage.

Do you plan or just write?

Normally, I begin with a character, place and situation and then run with it. Once I have a few chapters drafted and the secondary characters have appeared on the page I plan what will happen: conflicts, subplots, character changes and the satisfying ultimate resolution of the core plot.

 

I like to explore the many facets of love from friendship, maternal/paternal to obsessive and manipulative, keeping the central theme as the spark that links two people together, drawing them into a relationship kindled by true love, regardless of social class.

 

Love bonds people together. Laws can dictate the controls within a culture which restricts or allows certain behaviour, but, I believe, most people want to have that special person in their life to love and be loved. I want the reader to be left feeling satisfied and positive about the future.

 

How do you do your structure?

 

I like to build up to a mid section that has a lot of things going on and kicks off new problems to drive the plot through to the end.

 

What do you find hard about writing?

 

After I have edited two drafts and left the project alone for a couple of weeks, even returning afresh to it, I am so close to the story that it is difficult to see what should be cut out or left in – that is why a good editor is so important to the finished book.

 

What do you love about writing? 

 

I love the adventure – I love creating the characters and setting them off to face a series of challenges and then figuring out what will stand in their way and how they will ultimately achieve their goal.

 

Advice for other writers

 

The publishing business is tough. It is a business and although we are creative we have to look at it like that. There are hours spent alone just writing. Love it. Love the whole process, embracing the challenge. The more you write, the better you become. Once published the challenges change. Be dedicated and determined and take on board constructive advice.

Most importantly enjoy every minute.