VINTAGE POST: from March 2012

The best advice I can give anyone wanting to be an author is - BE BRAVE.

You need courage to even begin writing. Deciding to put your thoughts and feelings down on paper, and then to show them to someone else is incredibly hard. 


Having the courage to devote a year or two or even longer to working on a manuscript without knowing if it’ll ever be published is an ordeal too. People will ask you, ‘How’s the novel going? Found a publisher yet?’ it’s hard for your courage to remain unshaken.


Then you need to be bold and audacious and playful in your actual writing. So many aspiring authors write tame and conventional prose because they think it will help them get published. I think this is a mistake. Don’t be afraid to let loose some fireworks in your writing.


Many writers tend to sidestep the dangerous scenes too. They worry about what their mum will think, or their partner, or their old school friends. You can’t ever worry about what other people may think. There will always be people who like what you do, and people who don’t. Your only job is to serve the story well.


So often, when you feel that sense of danger in your writing, that’s when you know you’re really writing well. 


Finally, once you’ve finished your manuscript you need the courage to send it out, to try and get published. I was shaking uncontrollably the first time I sent my manuscript out. I felt sick to my stomach. And yes, I was rejected. Quite a few times. But I conquered my fear of rejection and was eventually published. 


And here I am today, facing yet another new fear. I have a new book coming out in three weeks time. What if no-one likes it? What if it doesn’t sell? What if I’m ripped to pieces by an unsympathetic critic? What will my mum think about some of the darker or saucier scenes in the book?


Trust me, I need all the courage I can muster to face that particular fear.