1. The story doesn't
write itself. It just doesn't. Wouldn't it be handy though? We could carry on
sending those all important tweets and making those witty Facebook posts while
the Story Fairies work away on those tedious drafts on our behalf.
2. Social Media is
very nice but it isn't actually writing. Sorry. I mean they're words, there's
no denying it, but does it get the novel finished? No. The words just don't
count. In fact, sometimes they should be minus words. You should really deduct
them from your writing word count because they are words that could have been
in your novel had you been writing that instead.
3. Ideas don't just
pop into your head one at a time, fully formed, ready to go. But this could be
another job for the story fairies. You could have one fairy per idea. You just
give them a hint of the story, the what if, the story spark, and away they'd
go. They could research, they could order, they could plan, they could ditch
the rubbish ideas and polish the gems. Sadly, story fairies aren't real. At
least I've never seen any. So you'll have to sort your own ideas, you'll have
to decide which ones to work on, and keep the others for later.
4. Sometimes you pick
the wrong story. Yup. Gutting, but it does happen. You can get all keen, all
excited; this story is the one! You research, you plot, you make character
charts, you write, you write some more, you get a bit stuck…you realise it's
going nowhere. This is not a good thing but what can you do? Learn from it.
Every word written is an experience. Every word written is exercising your
writing brain. Practice makes perfect, right? So you may have had a rubbish story,
but, odds are, it's helped you to be a better writer.
5. You can write the
best story in the world but unless you put down the editing pencil and actually
send it out, no one will know. Really. Just send it out. Do it! There comes a
point when you just cannot make any more revisions. In fact, to change another
single word will set your story on the road to ruin. Leave it. Send it out. And
work on something new.
