Ask the Author: Garrick Fincham
Answered Questions (2)
Garrick Fincham
Write. Just start... my own preference is not to start trying to write a story all at once. I might write a couple of hundred words describing a place, or a character, like preliminary sketches for a painting. It gets you into the habit of writing and builds up some knowledge of the world and people you are writing about. Then, if it's your first novel, don't mess about - go for the three-act structure, the most common form of story arc, and plot out your basic story. Spend some time working out how the plot and characters interact - how will events change your characters? After that, just keep going. It's a marathon, not a sprint. Set a target, 200, 500 words a day. Stick to it. Keep going, keep going, keep going... and then? Suddenly you have a draft of a novel in your hands.
Garrick Fincham
It usually means I haven't planned that section well enough. I walk the dog, think about what's getting in the way, think of a way through it, make myself sit down, and write it. Writing through writer's block doesn't usually produce excellent work, but it gets things moving again. When you look back in six months' time, you'll wonder what the problem was, rewrite the section, and away you go...
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