Ask the Author: Andy Lynes
Answered Questions (6)
Andy Lynes
Deadlines are really, really helpful!
Andy Lynes
At the moment, I'm focusing on publicising my first two books but I have several other projects in the pipeline. They are as yet unconfirmed so I can't go into detail but they are on the subjects of dining and particular areas of food and drink. I'm also continuing to write for the national and international press.
Andy Lynes
As a freelance journalist who writes about food, drink and travel and an author of non-fiction books with a food and drink theme, my advise would be to specialise. Build up knowledge and contacts in a particular area and you gives editors and publishers a reason to commission you. Become a reliable, authoritative and prolific writer on a particular subject matter and you will get work.
Andy Lynes
I don't really suffer from writer's block as much as plain old procrastination. There are some days when the word's come easily, others when it feels completely alien, an impossible task.
One way to get things moving is not to look the piece of writing as a linear thing, but each paragraph as an individual building block that can be created in any order and slotted together at the end. In practice, that often just means giving yourself permission to start in the middle or at the end and once you have a few words down on paper, the performance anxiety fades away and you can write the piece start to finish.
But with longer, more complex pieces, it can be extremely helpful to have a plan, even if that's just a list of bullet points which you can then tackle in the order that feels most comfortable. Do the easy stuff first, and build up to what seems the most problematic.
Another strategy is to turn off your internal editor and just rush through a first draft. Pretty soon, instead of nothing, which you can't work on, you have something which you can re-write, correct and edit. It can be tricky to suppress the urge to go back and delete and re-write as you go along, and sometimes it's perfectly OK to do that as long as you are making headway. If, after an hour you are still in that first tricky paragraph then it's time to take stock.
One way to get things moving is not to look the piece of writing as a linear thing, but each paragraph as an individual building block that can be created in any order and slotted together at the end. In practice, that often just means giving yourself permission to start in the middle or at the end and once you have a few words down on paper, the performance anxiety fades away and you can write the piece start to finish.
But with longer, more complex pieces, it can be extremely helpful to have a plan, even if that's just a list of bullet points which you can then tackle in the order that feels most comfortable. Do the easy stuff first, and build up to what seems the most problematic.
Another strategy is to turn off your internal editor and just rush through a first draft. Pretty soon, instead of nothing, which you can't work on, you have something which you can re-write, correct and edit. It can be tricky to suppress the urge to go back and delete and re-write as you go along, and sometimes it's perfectly OK to do that as long as you are making headway. If, after an hour you are still in that first tricky paragraph then it's time to take stock.
Andy Lynes
The idea for Kingdom of Cooks came from wanting to capture a moment in time in the history of restaurants in Britain. It's the most exciting time to be dining out in this country since the modern British cooking of the late 80's and early 90's and I wanted to document how that has come about because I don't think anyone else has done that.
I decided the best way to do that would be in a series of full length interviews with some of the most significant young chefs working in the UK at the moment. I'd really enjoyed Isle of Noises: Conversations with great British songwriters by Daniel Rachel which is also a collection of long form interviews and thought the same format would appeal to readers with a interest in cooking and eating out.
I decided the best way to do that would be in a series of full length interviews with some of the most significant young chefs working in the UK at the moment. I'd really enjoyed Isle of Noises: Conversations with great British songwriters by Daniel Rachel which is also a collection of long form interviews and thought the same format would appeal to readers with a interest in cooking and eating out.
Andy Lynes
When you have instigated your own project, or have been given free range by a publisher or editor and can write exactly what you want in your own voice. Then the words just flow, most of the time!
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