Advice, that is.
I got stuck in this “yeah-yeah-I-know” attitude about a lot of things when it comes to writing. And I don’t mean just whilst I was writing Djinn.
I have received some simply amazing feedback from friends about the ms – not all good, I have to add, but genuinely amazing because the feedback made me think. It made me think about Nicholas’s life thus far, how to introduce him as a solid character without relying on too much narrative because face it: it’s dull. Action is where it’s at, baby!
So – are you ready for advice? Can you take it?
I joined the Society for Children’s Book Writers and Illustrators (SCWBI UK) last week and it so happened to coincide with the London Social and I tagged along.
Apart from having met a tranche of brand new potential friends and courageous writers from all walks of life, the one lady, Miriam Halahmy looked at me with this wise expression when I was talking about revising Djinn etc and she said: I have one book that I use “Self-editing for Writers” and it’s brilliant. It’s all you’ll need.
So, bearing that in mind (see Liz take advice, see Liz learn from the advice, see Liz be eternally grateful for advice) I bought a copy from Amazon and went through the first couple of pages today with a new moleskine entitled “Workbook – General”.
Frack.
Where was this book all my life? How did I miss it? Clear, concise, to the point. Within the first few pages I knew this was the book I need when looking critically at my own work, be it Djinn, Enigma (pretty name, isn’t it?) or For the Thrill.
Packed chockablock full of advice and intelligent advice and a no nonsense way of writing, I am sitting on my chair here at work, with a stupid feeling of elation in my little heart.
But then I also strongly believe that books and advice come to you when you’re ready for them. A bit chaos theory, I know, but it’s something I’ve thought about in the past.
That’s why this blog is entitled: can you take it? It’s also the whole thing of being a little bit blind as some things “never” apply to you…until it does. Will you be clever enough to pick it up and make work of it?