Blog

Next up is Natasha Farrant, author of the Pride & Prejudice-inspired Lydia: The Wild Girl of Pride & Prejudice, sharing her top tips for writers!

What would be your five top tips to budding writers?

1. Read extensively. Other writers are your best teachers.

2. Always have pen and paper (or other note taking device) handy. You never know when inspiration will strike.

3. That said, writing is a discipline. Sitting around waiting for inspiration never finished a novel. You need to put in the hours. It also helps to develop a routine.

4. Leave some time – at least a week, preferably a month – between finishing and re-reading. When you do re-read, be prepared to be ruthless. Accept that you will never get it right first go.

5. Read what you have written out loud. You will be amazed how much it helps.

For those hoping to take part in NaNoWriMo or enter the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition, what would be your best tip for writing something every day?

Be disciplined.  Set yourself a target number of words every day, and stick to it. Even when it feels like you’re writing rubbish, stick to it. Bad words are better than no words at all and anyway, this is just the beginning of the process: the real work starts with the rewrites!

Enter the Times/Chicken House Children's Fiction Competition to be in with a chance of winning a £10,000 publishing contract!