The writing process
My favourite book about writing at the moment is On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft by Stephen King. It is easy to read and full of practical information.
If you want to build the habits you need to be a writer, 10 core practices better writing by Melissa Donovan will help you. It covers finding time to write through to revising your drafts. The idea is to read the whole thing through once, then work through a chapter at a time.
If you want to build the habits you need to be a writer, 10 core practices better writing by Melissa Donovan will help you. It covers finding time to write through to revising your drafts. The idea is to read the whole thing through once, then work through a chapter at a time.
For non-fiction writers
Many of the books on the market are aimed at fiction writers. While general guidance applies to all types of work, it is useful to have a book that covers only the ground you need. The FT Essential Guide to Business Writing has useful sections on style, structure & strategy for non-fiction of all sorts.
The Write Great Fiction series
Writing tips can be a bit formulaic, but I still think there is a place for them. After all, sometimes it can be a useful trigger. Even if it is just a rebellious thought. Rebelliousness can still be creative!
The Write Great Fiction series gives well set out, logically organised information about writing technique, including examples and exercises to get you going. Sometimes, these are available as a set, but you can buy them separately:
The Write Great Fiction series gives well set out, logically organised information about writing technique, including examples and exercises to get you going. Sometimes, these are available as a set, but you can buy them separately:
Getting organised
When you are planning a long piece, you need somewhere to jot things down. If your idea is hazy, or if the result will be complex, conventional techniques can get messy. Pieces of paper can get chaotic. Spreadsheets can help, but although sorting is useful, after a while it gets complicated.
Hiveword is an on-line tool for novel planning, but it can be used for all sorts of writing. The advantages are:
Hiveword is an on-line tool for novel planning, but it can be used for all sorts of writing. The advantages are:
- It keeps everything in one place.
- It is all on the web, so it is accessible anywhere with an internet connection.
- You always have the latest version to hand.
- It is easy to export into Word. Once you are ready to start writing properly, you don't have a blank piece of paper, as the outline is already there.
- It is our favourite price: free.
- You can move sections round easily. I find this really useful, as I usually know what sections I want to write about, but the order takes more time to work out.
- You can keep track of the key features of characters & locations.
- You can see how frequently characters & places occur, & how those occurrences are distributed.
- If you dither over names, there is a tool to generate names for characters & places.
For writers of historical fiction
How can you check that the language you use fits in the setting of your book?
There are many tales of medieval characters lounging on a sofa (a 17th century word), or people steaming ahead before the steam engine had been invented.
You can check many things, including when a word came into use, using the University of Glasgow’s Historical Thesaurus of English. This fascinating resource took over 50 years to develop. It shows you when words were first used, from early medieval times to the present day, all arranged into detailed hierarchies of meaning. It is really worth reading the page on how to use the site.
The team is working on a time-travellers' dictionary feature, so you can narrow down the range of words your character might use, but it is a little more complex than they expected.
There are many tales of medieval characters lounging on a sofa (a 17th century word), or people steaming ahead before the steam engine had been invented.
You can check many things, including when a word came into use, using the University of Glasgow’s Historical Thesaurus of English. This fascinating resource took over 50 years to develop. It shows you when words were first used, from early medieval times to the present day, all arranged into detailed hierarchies of meaning. It is really worth reading the page on how to use the site.
The team is working on a time-travellers' dictionary feature, so you can narrow down the range of words your character might use, but it is a little more complex than they expected.
