Like many writers, I’m a big fan of Stephen King, and have taken on board most of his advice about storytelling, character development and the routine of writing. However, his suggestion that ‘Stopping a piece of writing just because it’s hard, either emotionally or imaginatively, is a bad idea,’ doesn’t always work for me. Having…
Category: Writer’s Block
Writing Routines and Other Challenges
One of the things a lot of writers will press upon would-be authors, is the necessity of writing every day. As I often remind myself, Stephen King says, If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. However, for those of us…
On Not Writing
If you’ve read any of my posts about writer’s block, you’ll know I don’t believe in such things, but it isn’t only the lack of inspiration that can get in the way of creativity. A few months back, my father was taken into hospital and I drove down to my native Northumberland to see him.…
Pushing Through the Pain Barrier
Whether you’re expecting to churn out 50,000 words or 150,000 words, getting to that last sentence – the one that tells you the book is finally done – can be a bit of a battle. For me it’s also the justification that even though for most of the process I didn’t really know what the…
Rules for Writing (and Other Variables)
A few years ago, American novelist Colson Whitehead published a piece outlining his simple rules for writing (New York Times July 26, 2012). While I don’t completely agree with him, I do have my own ideas on the thorny subject of what writers should and shouldn’t do: 1: Show and Tell. No, actually. While I…
How to Write an Unfinished Novel
Not everything that ends up as a novel starts out as a novel. As Stephen King has said, you don’t know what a piece of writing will become until you write it. Might be a short story, might be a novella , or it might be an epic novel. And if it doesn’t go…
Colin Garrow 