Ten Things That Are NOT Writing My Novel (but they're not far off)

1. Reading blogs. This is fun. It's entertaining. It's informative. I can kid myself it's writing related when I read about other people's processes, interesting facts from past times, author interviews. It's not getting the words on the page of my novel but perhaps it kicks me into at least opening Scrivener.

2. Watching TV shows on Amazon Instant. It's a shame really that I can't count this as writing. If I put as much effort into writing my novel as I have with watching Arrow, then I'd not only have finished and polished it, I'd have planned a sequel too. But does it count a little bit? Can I say that following the plot and the arc of a TV series helps with my own plotting?

3. Reading fiction. Reading informs our own writing in that it inspires (hopefully) and triggers little lightning flashes of ideas, however remote and fuzzy. If we are to write, we must read. In the past week I have read 2 ½ novels. Is my own novel any further forward because of this reading? Not really, but I firmly put reading fiction in the "part of the writing process" department. Fiction fills our heads with worlds and from those worlds new ideas grow.

4. Reading non-fiction. Of course this is counted towards writing. It's research! Even if I'm writing a Victorian novel (which I am, by the way), reading a book about alchemy or Egyptian Gods is part of the writing process. We all have an ideas book, right? Well ALL non-fiction has the potential to spark a new story idea. Anyway, I have a magpie mind and I like collecting facts that may or may not be of use at some point.

5. The Theatre. Oh, how I love it! I've been to some fine plays recently – Another Country, Birdland, The Crucible, Richard III. And (huzzah!) after 3 ½ hours in phone and online queues, I got tickets for Hamlet next year with that Cumberbatch boy. Again, not writing. Although it does give me an appreciation of the beauty of words, so perhaps it's counted.

6. Music. Listening to it, not playing it – I have no talent in that department. Does singing along to the Arctic Monkeys help with my writing? It would be a huge stretch of the imagination to say that it did. Or would it? What about the rhythm of the lyrics? Could they help in some way with the rhythm of the words in my story?

7. Art galleries. There are no words here. Well, not in the exhibitions I've been to recently. So does art inform writing or is it just bunking off? Did my visit to the Royal Academy summer exhibition spark any story ideas or did I just stand there feeling somewhat confused? Both actually. Some of the pieces were beautiful. I think that any image we're drawn to can enrich us and this will be carried through to our writing. The confusion? How were some of those pieces even chosen?

8. Buying stationery. This is definitely counted as writing. You buy a new notebook therefore you write something nice in it. And neatly too. If you buy lots of notebooks then you must use them for lots of things – one for story ideas, one for character traits, one for plotting. In fact, buying stationery is obligatory.

9. Hanging out with friends. If you hang out with writer friends, especially if you meet up to write, then this is definitely counted. How can you sit at a table, opposite someone who is writing with a fury and not do the same?  I've found that it is possible to go on Facebook and Twitter while writing the occasional word, but if you have to compare word counts at the end of the session, you soon realise the error of your ways.

10. Cooking. How can cooking be related to writing? It's not. But by doing something so totally unrelated, you can free up your mind, and sometimes that tricky plot problem will resolve itself. OK, so it's not all that convenient to write down the perfect sentence or plot outline while up to your elbows in flour, but I didn't say it was easy!

Music and Writing

Words are words, right? Fiction or song – both tell a story, both paint a picture. I guess different songs resonate with different people, but we all have songs that fill our minds with image and atmosphere. I remember listening (all those years ago) to David Bowie’s Diamond Dogs album for the first time. I found Future Legend quite frightening. It immediately conjured up a dystopian world of death, destruction, and decay. Even now, it makes me think of dark alleys, fractured neon signs, hopelessness and depravity. Bowie created a fascinating world, and it’s one I keep meaning to tap into. It would make a great setting for a novel.

The BBC used Nick Cave’s utterly brilliant Red Right Hand in Peaky Blinders (I know, here I go again!). Although it’s a modern song in a (an?) historical setting, it works. In fact, they couldn’t have chosen anything more perfect. It chills you to the bone, and you immediately know what sort of world you’re entering. And it’s no fairy tale. Here’s the excellently splendid video. As an aside, I used to work at the record label and remember Nick Cave in his druggy days, staggering about the office. He’s turned out rather well!

As I’m writing gangy stuff, I’m also listening to the soundtrack to Rocknrolla. It’s great because it has little spoken clips from the film. Yes, they’re modern day gangsters but, hey, a villain is a villain, so it all helps.

Nine Inch Nails are also good to listen to. Another band I used to work on, and the reason I decided I’d had enough of the music industry – but that’s another story. Whether you like their music or not (and I love them), it’s hugely atmospheric. It’s good for writing angry scenes, although Hurt is quite poignant. In fact, Johnny Cash released a version of it after, I believe, the death of his wife.

Ramin Djawadi’s stuff is good for battle scenes. The splendidly clever Liz de Jager recommended his soundtracks to me. I know she listens to them while writing and boy does she write a good battle!

And smuggling. I’ve always wanted to write a smuggling story. Fingals’s Cave is perfect, as is Peter Grimes.

You can use music as background to create the right atmosphere. You can use music to create images that can turn into stories. You can use music to get you in the right frame of mind, to stir your emotions. And if writing becomes a chore, you can put some music on and dance. Or is that just me? Sugababes anyone?