David Bradwell
Advice is tricky because it really depends on where you're starting from. But the three things that made the most difference to me were:
1. Scrivener: this is a phenomenal piece of software that makes writing a joy. Instead of a huge, unwieldy Word document, you've got a chapter-by-chapter document tree. Spend half an hour learning the basics and you'll never go back.
2. A thorough outline: some people swear by a different approach, and just write a first draft to see where it goes, but I'm definitely a fan of the outline: a scene-by-scene breakdown of the whole book that lets you see exactly where the strengths and weaknesses are, making it easy to fix issues, plant clues, establish red herrings, and make notes and ideas for dialogue. Some scenes may be a couple of sentences. Others can be a thousand words. But once the outline is finished you know that you can approach the writing with the confidence that everything will work. That said, the story will go off on its own natural tangents as it develops, but you know there's always a clear path to go back to.
3. Get a good editor. It's not cheap but it's transformative and worth every penny. A structural edit, especially on your first novel, will make a huge difference - not just to that book, but to your entire approach going forward.
Oh, and read aloud, especially dialogue. And most of all, have fun.
1. Scrivener: this is a phenomenal piece of software that makes writing a joy. Instead of a huge, unwieldy Word document, you've got a chapter-by-chapter document tree. Spend half an hour learning the basics and you'll never go back.
2. A thorough outline: some people swear by a different approach, and just write a first draft to see where it goes, but I'm definitely a fan of the outline: a scene-by-scene breakdown of the whole book that lets you see exactly where the strengths and weaknesses are, making it easy to fix issues, plant clues, establish red herrings, and make notes and ideas for dialogue. Some scenes may be a couple of sentences. Others can be a thousand words. But once the outline is finished you know that you can approach the writing with the confidence that everything will work. That said, the story will go off on its own natural tangents as it develops, but you know there's always a clear path to go back to.
3. Get a good editor. It's not cheap but it's transformative and worth every penny. A structural edit, especially on your first novel, will make a huge difference - not just to that book, but to your entire approach going forward.
Oh, and read aloud, especially dialogue. And most of all, have fun.
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