Writing from the heart

Have you ‘read on’ as recommended at the end of the last newsletter two weeks ago?

I have.

And I have just finished a marvellous novel, Restless, by William Boyd. Add that to your reading list.

In addition I have dipped into Walter Mosley’s short guide to writing a novel – This year you write your novel
As you know he is the Los Angeles crime writer, beloved of President Obama and me (two names you never usually see together)

 He gives matchless tips about process. Here are five of his and mine to start with:-

1. Rewriting 
This is the most important thing about writing, whether fiction or non-fiction. You are highly unlikely to achieve your best from one, two, or even three drafts.

An English thriller writer friend told me that she often drafted a key section or chapter five or six times. Mosley says that, from a novelist’s viewpoint, “The first draft is just an outline of the novel.”

My own tip, from experience of writing Feel it as a Man: a fool’s guide to relationships, is to save the rewriting until you have done the first draft.

Leave notes in the text where you need to add, improve, rewrite or check. But maybe that tip works better for non-fiction.
 

2. Write every day
Even if you are rewriting or sketching the plot or characters. You might feel stuck, but write something.
 

3. Inspiration
Comes from the unconscious mind. Only the daily routine of writing will unlock that “place deep inside you”. When you are not writing, you could be dreaming and that, according to Mosley, is “the mood of thought below your conscious mind”.
 

4. Write without restraint.
“Almost all human beings are emotionally restrained,” writes Mosley. In novels, he adds, “The story and your characters will need a dark side to them.”
 

5. Avoid Procrastination

The biggest enemy of the writer. Your inner critic will try to drag you away from your laptop to clean the house and wash the dishes. So keep sacred the allotted hour for writing and stick to the task of writing at your regular time.

 Sailing

Finally, Mosley compares the process of writing to sailing a boat, where you need to keep your hand on the tiller, rather than travelling on a train, which takes you to your destination in a straight line along the tracks.

There are no straight lines for the writer. 

However, as the writing process develops, you will find the universe coming to your aid in the way of ideas, stories and news.

Almost every writer will tell you that they have enjoyed the experience of having the universe on their side.