ASK ME ANYTHING: WRITING TIPS EDITION
A thread specifically for tips on writing and publishing
This week I saw something unusual on Twitter. It was a thread that was useful, measured, insightful, succinct and largely accurate.
It was written by Dr Kirsty Sedgman, whose new book, On Being Unreasonable, is published next year.
Here is the thread:
I liked this thread because it summed up in logical sequence the processes that lie behind getting a book published - first for an academic audience, second for a ‘trade’ audience.
These processes are almost always mysterious to would-be authors. To be honest, a lot of published authors also find them opaque, or at least wonder if their own experience is representative of the norm.
So it’s good to have this. I’ve bookmarked it and will send it to budding authors in future. If you’re interested in getting published, I suggest you read it.
All this being said, the thread only covers part of the experience of writing - which is the getting of a book deal.
So I thought perhaps I would supplement the thread by putting together a FAQ-type guide to some of the other aspects of writing and publishing.
Which is where you come in. If you’re an aspiring writer, an existing writer, or just someone interested in writing and reading, please post your questions in the comments section below.
I’ll then round them up in a long-ish post, and perhaps a supplementary audio post. And that can live here, for anyone who wants to use it in future.
Sound good? Over to you. Ask me anything. Go.
How the hell do you get started?
I've got a solid idea for a historical fiction series, I've got scraps of paper with notes, notes on my phone, hours of daydreams on the topic but, irritatingly, also a job that takes most of my time and headspace.
Any tips on how to actually get the writing process underway would be fantastic.
Also, do you write solely on a computer or by hand in the first instance?
I'd be interested to know more about your emotional response to your own writing/publishing process. Having been lucky enough to publish a book last year, I am constantly surprised by my own emotions - writing the last words, seeing the cover, etc., all those moments were expected emotional triggers. But the bigger picture is the fact that you have revealed something of yourself, that even when hiding behind historical facts and writing non-fiction, you are exposed. There is something of you in that book that you have given away. And your readers are free to have their own emotional response to your writing that you can't control. I have developed a whole new respect for writers, especially writers of fiction. Writers are brave. How has your emotional response to your own writing changed, and has it taken more courage to write fiction?