1. love your work
Write what you would enjoy reading yourself, in a style that is natural rather than forced. Thinking, 'Well, I'll write a Mills and Boon because I could do with the cash' will never work. You have to respect your readers, be proud of your genre, and be true to yourself. If you feel good about what you do it will shine through.
2. be fresh
If you put thought into your descriptions and try to say things in your own, individual way, your writing will take on your personality and hopefully grab your readers' attention. Cliches are empty words - avoid them like the plague (Gaargh! See how easily they can sneak up on you).
3. keep notes
Write down everything that comes to mind, no matter how small. If you have a good idea before you fall asleep don't think you'll remember it in the morning. Keep a notepad within reach at all times. Use a boxfile to store anything - print outs from the internet, character notes, brainstorms, snippets of conversation that you could use later, etc, etc - to do with your work in progress. Keeping notes together will make life so much simpler and will motivate you to add to them.
4. have a tidy mind
If you feel your head is cluttered with thoughts on where you want your story to go, different scenes you want to add, plot changes, etc, try writing each one down on a separate piece of paper, then moving them into the order you want them to take place. You don't have to stick to the order, but getting them on paper where you can see them will help. Similarly, a pocket diary is good for writing down scenes in chronological order to help you remember what's happened so far and will mean you're less likely to make continuity errors.
5. write first, edit later
It's so tempting to write a chapter then start to fiddle around with it, but don't! Worrying about the quality of the work you've done so far is wasted time and will hinder your confidence. Remember, no-one will be seeing it or judging you until you're ready. If you wait, you'll have a much clearer idea of what you need to work on - then you can rework it to your heart's content with the added confidence and sense of achievement of having written a whole book. Find out more about Sarah Ball at her website www.sarahball.co.uk
Sarah Ball's 5 essential reads
1. jennie by Paul Gallico
I first read this when I was 12 and I've yet to read a book that has wrung so much emotion out of me. I loved it so much I named my cat after it!
2. toddler taming by dr christopher green
This book has saved my sanity on numerous occasions. It tells you these fantastically sensible things like, if your child keeps taking chocolate out of the fridge - stop putting chocolate in the fridge! At this point it's handy for beating yourself about the head with whilst saying, 'Doh!' over and over again.
3. what not to wear by susannah constantine & trinny woodall
Okay, I know, I should hate them, with their tyrannical approach to fashion, but I think they're great because they give people like me (clueless disaster in suit trousers and scuffed trainers) knowledge. And, when that knowledge comes with a new, flattering wardrobe and a bag of extra confidence I can't see the problem (unless you 'Trinny and Susannah' your wardrobe, throw out everything that breaks the rules and now have to do the laundry every day due to a distinct lack of things to wear).
4. feel the fear and do it anyway by susan jeffers
If the lion had a copy of this book he wouldn't have needed to find the Wizard of Oz! Packed full of advice, so simple, so truthful, yet completely enlightening. I've yet to read more than a few pages before I've tossed it over my shoulder, thought, 'Damn it, she's right!' and gone striding off to do something positive with my day.
5. on writing by stephen king
I just love his 'tough love' advice and practical tips, and no matter what you think of his writing, no-one can deny that Stephen King is a gifted story teller with a limitless imagination.
1. jennie by Paul Gallico
2. toddler taming by dr christopher green
3. what not to wear by susannah constantine & trinny woodall
4. feel the fear and do it anyway by susan jeffers
5. on writing by stephen king