5 Things I’ve Learnt From 15 Years of Writing

  

1.        Never give up

 

For an author, disappointment is the natural order of things. Despite having written over 12 novels, each one has been rejected by the Literary Agents and publishers that I’ve sent them to. With each e-mail, questions of self-doubt swirl around my head: what if I’m not good enough? What if this is all part of some grand middle-aged delusion? Am I wasting my time? But occasionally, I receive, instead of the usual bland rejection letters, something more personal – such as a commendation of my writing skills, or a confirmation that my story is an exciting prospect. These fillips, though hidden within a polite decline, only serve to energize me – they give me the belief that with a bit of luck and a little more refinement I will get one novel into the lap of the literary Gods. It’s just a matter of time. And so it is with your writing – if you keep battling away, the greatest prize of all will be within your grasp. Seize it. 

 

2.        Rejection makes you a better writer

 

Rejection has given me a new lease of life. It would be easy for me to keep churning out the same books every year with all the same characters in all the usual places but that would only make rejection more likely in the future. So, with every novel I write I do something different. It might be writing in a different narrative voice, choosing a central character who is unfamiliar to me, or else placing my novels in settings far removed from my own. I experiment with language, punctuation, and paragraphing. Anything to make myself a better, more versatile author. I am not a one-lane writer sticking resolutely to his first book series, I am a creator of multiple characters in multiple worlds. And I will be successful. One day. And when I am I won’t fear writing something new, something beyond my usual literary fare. And I’ll be good at it too. So, embrace failure and become a better, more productive writer. The only person stopping you is yourself. 

If you like what I have to say about writing, why not check out my podcast 'What! The Heys' where I take weekly deep dives in the worlds of writing and literature: 

https://www.buzzsprout.com/1021147

3.        Marketing is not a dirty word

 

Marketing is not just for the marketing department. Every author has to be able to publicize their book and bring it to the attention of their audience. To market my books, I’ve started this blog, recorded a podcast, and begun building a following on social media. And I’m not shy about celebrating my successes either, such as last week when my blog was recommended by The New York Times and Open AI. I need to be able to give the Literary Agent something more than good intentions the next time I forward them my book. I need to convince them that I can market my own novel and shift them in greater numbers than the other guys. They need to know that I can make them money, that their elbow grease representing me is going to be worth it. So, get on social media and tell the world about your books. Record a podcast and write a blog if you have to. It will make you more publishable when you do. 

 

4.        Input = Output

 

Books aren’t magically born from the ether. They come from a writer’s imagination, which is itself forged out of their thoughts, feelings, and experiences. Some of these may have taken decades to come to fruition. But that doesn’t mean that they will last forever. They must be restocked from time-to-time, like the tinned food on a supermarket’s shelves. This can come from travel, living in a different city, or even just by reading different genres. If you have lived in the same city all your life, consider moving, even if it’s just a few miles down the road. The change in scenery will give you new things to write about. Moving cities in China has given me a treasure trove of experiences to draw upon. I’ve practically written two poetry collections out of it. This can also be said for the books you read. Don’t be afraid to switch genre and read something you’re not used to. If you mostly read fantasy, try crime fiction, if you exclusively read History try Young Adult literature. There are more books in existence than there are grains of sand, so why restrict yourself to one genre? Read around. Improve yourself. Your next great idea may be in that one book you never thought to read.

 

5.        AI to the rescue

 

Synopses, elevator pitches, sample chapters, and query letters. These are the stuff of literary nightmares. And yet they are part of every successful pitch. We need them. And more to the point we need to be good at them. Because if we aren’t then – boom! – we get rejected. No Literary Agent worth their proverbial salt wants to represent an author who can barely be bothered to arrange their plot structure and characters in a meaningful way, never mind if its full of spelling and grammar errors. But fear not authors, a mighty herald is ready to answer our call - AI. AI may not be the complete future of publishing, but it will certainly be a large part of it. AI can help us deal with all these nasty little gremlins and allow us to stand out from the literary crowd like never before. I used an AI to write my query letter, elevator pitch, and synopsis for my last book, and despite its unusual nature (gay werewolves anyone?) it got more positive feedback than usual. If I had sent them a story that was more publishable, then I might be looking at a 5-book deal and an advance of $500,000 (an author’s gotta hope, right?) right now. So, embrace the AI revolution when preparing your pitch and improve your chances of landing a deal. If nothing else, it will ease some of the stress and give you more time for the thing that truly matters – more writing!