All about fiction writing and the future fiction best seller!

Never worry about going over the top when it comes to characterisation. Make your characters real characters but make them interesting. It’s fiction don’t forget, so don’t be boring.

Meeting a bore in real life is bad enough, but meeting a bore between hard or soft covers is possibly worse, and that’s why some books are put down and never picked up again.

Think of some the greatest characters in literature – Dickens’s Mr Micawber, Mrs Gump and Daniel Quilp (to name just three); Count Dracula; James Bond; Nurse Ratched in One Flew Over The Cuckoo’s Nest; Captain Ahab; Mrs Bennet of Pride & Prejudice; Jay Gatsby, etc, etc – hardly normal, everyday people, but totally memorable and as real as the fingers you’re using to turn the pages.

What about the other main characters in my books? The truth is most, if not all, are based on people I knew, or had met at some time or another. In my previous life I’d come across a lot of really strange people. Musicians, actors, ‘duckers and divers’, villains, good people and bad. There were a thousand stories and a thousand lives I plundered, just changing the names to protect the innocent and guilty alike. A rich stew.

Sit in a bar, get chatting, tell your new friend you’re a writer, and people will pour out their life stories. I promise you it’s the truth.

Love your characters, even the most disgusting. Because if you don’t, no one else will. I love Sharman. I’ve killed him once and retired him to a desert island, but like Conan Doyle with Sherlock Holmes I just keep bringing him back. He’s like an old overcoat that fits perfectly. I don’t know what I’d do without him. If it weren’t for Nick Sharman I wouldn’t be writing this now and you (almost certainly) would not be reading it. 

Mark Timlin

(Taken from Write A Novel In 60 Days That Will Sell by Mark Timlin)

Mark Timlin: WRITE NOW!

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Generally speaking there are two types of writer: those who write ‘cleanly’ and those who do not. Examples of ‘clean’ writers are Ernest Hemingway, Raymond Chandler, Dashiel Hammett, George Orwell, Elmore Leonard, Eric Ambler, Mark Timlin and Ross Macdonald. I won’t bother listing any of the other kind. Practically every bad writer you come across will be a ‘dirty’ writer. Most amateurs fall into the trap of trying to write too cleverly. They burden their prose with dirt: flowery adjectives, long similes, obese sentences and so on. In the process they obscure what they mean to say and bore their readers. Clean, clear writing is enjoyable to read. And when reading is a pleasure, then ideas are easier to put across.

1. Short sentences are best. Really. But it is best to avoid. If you can. Making them too jumpy. And disjoined. Because…

2. Your writing should have a rhythm. Prose, like poetry, should flow smoothly. A good way of ensuring flow and eliminating ’sharp edges’ is to read aloud what you’ve written.

3. Shorter paragraphs are easier to read. Your first paragraph should be succinct and snappy, enticing the reader to carry on. That principle should continue, on a less stringent level, throughout your work. Designers know that plenty of white space on a page attracts people ñ the same goes for readers. That’s why many potential purchasers skim through a book’s pages before they decide to buy it.

4. Never use any word other than ’said’ to indicate dialogue. Plus, when saying who is speaking, steer clear of adverbs. There’s nothing worse than a flow of dialogue that goes: ‘What did you say?’ asked Jane menacingly. ‘You heard me,’ Dennis said loudly. ‘I did not,’ muttered Jane angrily. ‘Oh, of course you didn’t,’ mocked Dennis, sarcastically. Your readers will accuse you of writing annoyingly.

5. Avoid cliches like the plague.

6. Be positive in your writing. Instead of saying: ‘Few readers would not want to read writing that is positive in stance’ say: ‘Most readers enjoy positive writing’. Unless you are writing for effect, it is always best (and less boring) to put things positively. Instead of ‘the letter was on the table when John found it’, say ‘John found the letter on the table’. When writing a report or sales-pitch avoid using negatives: ‘there are only one or two failures in every hundred tests’ is better put as ‘initial tests have shown a success rate in excess of 98%’.

7. Miss out unnecessary long words. If you, or the average reader, has to consult a dictionary in order to define a word’s meaning, then you should leave it out. The only exception to this rule is when there is literally no other word that will do. Personally, I have not encountered this situation since leaving school. The English language is abundant in alternative meanings, and most of them can be simply put.

8. Is it necessary? Elmore Leonard puts it very well when he says he ‘tries to leave out the part that readers tend to skip’. In a novel, do we really need to know everything the characters do, even if it has no impact on the action? For example, during the course of the average novel the characters will go to the toilet hundreds of times, drink dozens of cups of tea or coffee and watch TV or read a book or newspaper in their spare moments. How many of these do we need to hear about? Boring the reader is almost as bad as writing something they don’t understand.

9. Avoid detailed descriptions. Especially of your characters. When people read a novel they like to visualise the characters for themselves, not have a minutely-detailed description spoon-fed them. And the point at which 64% of people abandon novels is halfway through yet another long and detailed description. Who cares what colour the curtains/drapes are? Do we really want to hear about what kinds of cars are parked on the street when the hero arrives? (The answer is ‘no’.)

10. Kill your darlings. Edit ruthlessly and cut out anything that isn’t absolutely necessary, even ñ some will say ‘especially’ ñ bits you are particularly proud of.  Make it plain, make it clear, make your writing look effortless.

Remember Elmore Leonard’s golden rule: ‘If it sounds like writing, re-write it.’

Jim Driver

Mark Timlin: WRITE NOW!

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Anybody who can string together a decent sentence can write a best selling novel. It’s as simple as that. There are three reasons why more of us don’t do it.

The first is that it requires perseverance. It’s becoming something of a cliche to say that the secret of successful writing is simply to apply bum to seat and write, but it’s absolutely true. The potential best selling author can’t afford to wait for the muse to visit before putting pen to paper, and it’s no good offering up excuses about how demanding family life is, or how tired we are at the end of the day, we just have to sit down and write. Sick or well, hungover or buzzing, tired or alert, we’ve got to get those words down.

A novel is by definition a book made up of lots of words, each of them needs to be written down, letter by letter. Many of these thousands of words then have to be erased and replaced in the first edit, then again in the second edit, and so on. A 100,000 word novel can easily require the author to write 400,000 or more words. Not everybody can do it; in fact, most of us can’t.

For every 10,000 people who sit down to write a novel it is estimated that only 800 succeed in finishing it. And of those 800, only 90 are eventually published. And how many of them become best-sellers? Maybe one or two. Maybe none.

So, the first hurdle the author of the best selling novel has to overcome is to actually write the book.

The second reason more of us don’t write a fiction best seller is that the book we eventually write is simply the wrong kind of book. Not every novel is destined to sell millions of copies and, sadly, literary merit is often a hindrance to sales, rather than a help. Take a look at the fiction best seller lists for the past 20 years. Dan Brown, Jeffrey Archer, Ken Follett and Stephen King have all sold zillions of copies but no one would ever accuse any of those guys of being literary geniuses. What they do and what they do well is tell stories and stories are what you see piled up at the front of bookshops. ‘So-and-so-author is a great story teller’ is another way of saying that so-and-so can barely write his own name, but never mind, he’s great at creating plots.

Plots and not fancy turns of phrase or a brilliant ear for dialogue are what really sells books.

And the third thing the would-be best selling author needs? Luck. Or rather, they need to make their own luck. How often do successful authors, publishers and agents hear the words, ‘He was lucky, he found a publisher just like that and I’ve been submitting my manuscripts for years without success’? Let me tell you: they hear it all the time.

I ran a book publishing company up until three years ago. On the top of the front page of the The Do-Not Press website it now says (in big bold letters): ‘We are currently NOT looking for submissions from authors (so please DO NOT send us anything - it will not be read)’. And yet even now 5-10 manuscripts somehow land on my doormat in the average week. Is it because their authors are so very unlucky that their submissions end up, unread, in my recycling bin? I think not. And by the same token, is the author who spends a couple of days researching his market before sending anything out the luckiest guy alive? Obviously not.

Remember, just about everybody has it within them to write a best selling work of fiction. All they need is someone to tell them how to do it.

Jim Driver is an author and former publisher who lives with his wife and son in London, UK. He splits his life promoting rock & roll, lecturing on creative writing and reviewing fiction.

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You’ve written what you are sure is a great novel and the obvious next step would be to have it published. But, as every pre-published author knows, it’s not quite as easy as that. Getting a book into print can be even harder than writing it, unless you know exactly how to go about it.
A common misconception among authors is that publishers aren’t looking for new books. Wrong. Every commercial book publisher in the world is on an endless quest for potential bestsellers. If they think you have what it takes, they will beat a path to your door and shower you with riches. Really. Get two or more publishers interested in your work and they will try and out-bid each other in order to have you sign with them. If that happens, get out the champagne!
It goes without saying that your novel will have to have what it takes to get published. Let’s assume you’re sitting on a blockbuster: how do you get interest from potential publishing houses?
The hardest part is to get editors interested in you and your work. Every day they are bombarded with mediocre (and worse) manuscripts from idiots who don’t know what they are doing - universally called the ’slush pile’ - and that makes them wary. They will assume that you are just another idiot. So, before you get to the point of submitting a manuscript anywhere, you have to make a name for yourself.
It could take a year or so, but it’s not as hard as it sounds. If you can write a novel you can write reviews and articles. Start a blog concerned with the style of fiction you write. If you are into crime and mystery, for example, set up a site that reviews crime and mystery books. Call it something like bestcrimebooks.com - though that name has already been taken. There are lots of articles online on how to optimize your website and get it listed by search engines.
Fill your site with reviews of books you’ve recently read, though be careful not to say anything too scathing. You are trying to get the publishers and authors of these books on your side. The unspoken etiquette in reviewing is not to review rather than write a bad review. Make sure your site is well presented and that your writing is spell-checked and properly edited. If in doubt, cut. Short snappy reviews and articles are what the internet wants.
Approach authors about being interviewed, probably by email, for the site. Ask people to write you reviews, but make sure your name is splattered all over the website. Don’t forget, it is you and your books it is really promoting.
Approach your local newspapers and regional magazines. Get them to publish articles about your website/blog. Suggest you write articles and/or a regular book review column for them. Stress that you won’t want money for it… don’t forget: you’re in this to make a name for yourself and become part of the literary world in your field.
Once there are a few reviews on the site and maybe in local publications, write or email publicity departments of publishers who publish crime fiction (or whatever it is you are blogging), and request review copies. Ask to be put on their mailing lists. Send them print-offs of your site, showing the type of reviews you are doing. Tell them how important the site is and how many hits you are getting - exaggerate if you have to.
Find specialist and local bookshops, tell them about your website. Offer to put up links and include their signings and talks in your news section. Become part of the scene. Attend functions. Buy books off them. Ask for their advice on new talent.
Always talk up your website, what an important resource it is, how many visitors you get. Send copies of reviews to the people who sent you the book. Without being pushy, become their friend. Help them when they ask for it. If they push something you don’t think is very good, bend over backwards to accommodate them without ’selling out’, they will appreciate it. You should eventually find yourself on most publishers’ lists, be invited to book launches, where you will meet authors, publishers, agents and… you get the picture?
If all goes according to plan, you will come into contact with someone (or maybe several someones) who can and will help you. Perhaps an author suggesting that you should speak to his or her agent, maybe a publisher who’d be interested in looking at your manuscript. You’ve become their equal and left the ’slush pile’ behind forever. You will also have gained valuable insight into what makes a best seller and your novel will stand a hugely better chance of being published as a result.
by Jim Driver

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