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Reluctant Advice for Keen Young Writers
Writing | Posted by Carole on Thursday 24 April 2008
I’ve recently had a number of emails from young writers asking for advice on how to improve their writing. They seem to think that because I write books, and some of them have been successful, I can explain how to write a successful book. If only it were that easy. The truth is, I can’t tell you why one book is popular and another isn’t. There isn’t a formula to learn like in maths or physics.
I am not an expert on writing. I am just a writer. I don’t feel comfortable giving advice about something that I am still learning. But since people have asked, I will have a go.
Firstly, I have already written some stuff in my FAQs, but no one seems to read that!
The way to improve your writing is to write. Write, write, write and then write some more. Practice is what makes you a better writer. If you wanted to be an Olympic gymnast or an AFL footballer, you wouldn’t expect to walk out onto the mat/football field and be an expert immediately. You know you would have to train for years. It’s the same with writing. A few writers have great success with their first novel, but more than likely they have spent a long time writing and rewriting it, perhaps writing other unpublished things first.
I started off writing short stories. That worked for me. It gave me practice at writing. I tried different types of stories. I tried to get them published, to see which ones people liked. Then after a couple of years, I tried writing a novel. It took me two years. It was terrible. It was never published (thank goodness!). I kept writing all kinds of things—TV scripts, newspaper articles, brochures, more short stories. It was all good practice. It was eight years before my first book was published.
The other question I get asked is “How do I make my story longer?” The short answer is, you can’t. A story is as long as it takes to tell. That may be six paragraphs or 600 pages. If you try and stretch a story, it just gets boring. If you want to write a longer story, my advice would be to spend some time plotting it before you start. I don’t start writing until I have a beginning, middle and end to a story. Then I write a synopsis of about three pages. It might take me two months to come up with those three pages. Then I start to write the novel. That will take me about a year, and that’s writing every day. Sometimes it’s hard. Sometimes I feel like I can’t do it.
I know J K Rowling and Christopher Paulini became millionaires with their first books. But that isn’t what usually happens. Writing isn’t a way to earn a quick million. And this is my last and most important piece of advice—Only write if you love writing. If you haven’t got the patience to write lots, then writing probably isn’t for you. You have to do it because you love it, not because you want to be rich and famous. You have to be prepared for the hard slog.
I have some more advice here on how to improve your writing. Also here. There are links to other authors’ advice as well. You might also want to read this.
I hope I haven’t made writing sound too hard. There are times when it’s wonderful—you get a great idea, or write a terrific paragraph, or think of a fabulous turning point, or someone tells you how much they enjoyed reading your work. Then it’s the best thing in the world.
Good luck to all the writers out there. Keep at it.
24 responses
Posted by Vivienne on Thursday 24 April 2008
hi carole,
havent been on your website for quite a while, YAY tomorrow’s anzac day, a holiday, well PLC isnt that bad and no projects yet. that’s a lot of good advice if you ask me and i agree with basically all of it, no writing isn’t about becoming rich and famous, to me (since i want to become and author) it’s a way of expressing yourself and sharing your thoughts with others and also being able to just do what you can. My english teacher thinks that i have a good touch with writing and that things i put in it are more than my age group, so i’m happy with that, guess that’s all, happy writing!
Vivienne
p.s sorry for the LOOOOOOOOOOOONNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGG message, guess i wrote way too much now that i think about it.
Posted by Carole on Thursday 1 May 2008
Vivienne,
Good luck with your writing.
Posted by Connor on Sunday 4 May 2008
Hmm That Would help me tanks 4 the advice
Posted by Travis Gaal on Tuesday 6 May 2008
Hi Carole,
I have finished my book! And I have gone through and read it, it is 119 pages long and I have sent it to Black Dog Books! It is a part of a series and I have already started writing the next one!
From Travis
Posted by Travis Gaal on Tuesday 6 May 2008
Oh, but I don’t think that they will accept it!
Posted by Carole on Tuesday 6 May 2008
Travis,
Congratulations on finishing your book. Good luck with it.
Posted by Brynne on Friday 9 May 2008
Hi Carole,
My name is Brynneand i am in year 8. At school I have to do an author study on an Australian author and i chose you! I have read all the information in “About” and i found it very interesting, Thanks. I was just wondering if there is any additional information you can tell me. If you can could you try to send it to me by my email address. if this is not possible it would still be great if you could answer on the site.
Thanks a million,
Brynne
Posted by Jayne on Tuesday 13 May 2008
Hi carole,
My name is Jayne, I’m in yr 6.
I love reading your interesting books!! Especially your Ramose series. It’s very historical, brilliant and interesting!! At school we did a spoken review to recommend your favourite authoR….I SAID CAROLE WILKINSON!!
When I grow upp I want to become an author….you inspired me to keep on writing…No matter how hard it is!!
Thanks Lotttsss for letting children’s imaginations runnn wild!!
From Jayne
Posted by Carole on Thursday 15 May 2008
Jayne,
Good to hear that you enjoyed Ramose. Thanks for choosing me for your author review.
Posted by Carole on Thursday 15 May 2008
Brynne,
Thanks for choosing me for your author project. And well done for finding the info on my website. I am happy to answer any other questions you have, but “Do you have any more information?” is too general. You’ll have to give me some idea of what information you are interested in.
Posted by sarah on Wednesday 21 May 2008
when you write, do you plan everything beforehand or do you simply write and how it turns out?
Posted by Carole on Friday 23 May 2008
Sarah,
I always have a plan, just the main points of the story. There is still plenty of room for me to think up new bits as I go, though.
Posted by sarah on Tuesday 27 May 2008
i sometimes do, is it a good thing if you change practically everything in your second and third drafts? my friends sort of find it confusing
Posted by Carole on Tuesday 27 May 2008
Sarah,
You only change what needs to be changed to make the story better. If you have to change practically everything, I think it might mean that you haven’t planned the story enough.
I’m not sure what your friends have to do with it. Do they read your drafts?
Posted by sarah on Wednesday 28 May 2008
yep, 2 of them do, i thnk i did change stuff too much, i even change names of my main characters to suit my current favourites,that’s why it’s so confusing.
Posted by Carole on Monday 2 June 2008
Sarah,
You’re very lucky to have friends who will read your drafts. Perhaps you are giving them the drafts too early, if you haven’t got the characters’ names worked out. That’s making it hard on your friends.
Posted by Alaska on Wednesday 11 June 2008
hi
i love drogon keeper books they are awsome when might u write some more drogon books
from alaska
Posted by cassnadra neves on Tuesday 17 June 2008
hi carol, you are a great and brilliant author. i love all of your dragon keeper books and i cant stop thinking about it. please can i ask you to continue this fabulous series. please contact me back if you are going to. thank you.
p.s best books in the world
Posted by Carole on Tuesday 17 June 2008
Alaska,
I don’t know when or if I will write more dragon books. At the moment I am writing about other things.
I have written another one called Dragon Companion. You can find out about it at
http://www.carolewilkinson.com.au/books/dragon_companion
Posted by Carole on Tuesday 17 June 2008
cassandra,
Thanks for your kind words.
I’m afraid I have no plans to continue the series. The story is finished as far as I am concerned.
Posted by Travis on Monday 14 July 2008
Hi Carole,
Its weird when I write. If I use the computerq to write my novels I get writers block or just have stupid ideas. But when i write by hand its like the book just flows out of the pen through my finertips. Would you know why this happens??
From Travis
Posted by Travis on Monday 14 July 2008
PS. When i am plotting my novel i don’t write it down, it stays in my head. But when I do write it down, it seems to get boring.
Just thought I’d tell you because I think its pretty weird.
From Travis
Posted by Carole on Wednesday 16 July 2008
Travis,
No idea why that happens. I’m a computer person myself.
I have to write the plot down to keep track of the subplots etc. For me it gets more exciting when I write it down and tinker with it. Actually I do that by hand on a whiteboard.
Posted by sarah on Thursday 31 July 2008
wow, i think that i tend to change my novel a lot on the computer but i often get the writer’s block when writing by hand. i don’t bother with writing down the plot though, i just change it too fast!