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Posts Tagged ‘novel writing’

Are you a writer with big ideas? Are you always imagining epics, sweeping stories, great tales of human struggle and sacrifice, interlaced with personal stories of love, sadness and triumph? If so, you ought to consider turning your book or story idea into a trilogy.

Why a trilogy? Believe it or not, there are deep psychological reasons that we do things in threes. The holy trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Triple Goddess is Maiden, Mother, Crone, detailing the feminine journey through life. How many times have you heard the phrase “third time lucky”, or given someone “three guesses” or “three chances”? And of course in baseball it’s “three strikes and you’re out!”

You will have no doubt heard of the traditional “three act play”. Almost all big Hollywood screenplays are based on this structure and it’s certainly a tried and true form of storytelling that captures viewers and keeps them going back to the cinema in droves. And the world of fantasy writing is packed with trilogies: The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (that’s two trilogies in fact), and any story by Sara Douglass, Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan or pretty much any fantasy writer in the world today is told across at least one, if not more, trilogies.

Add to that the success of such popular movie franchises as Star Wars, Pirates Of The Carribean and the Bourne movies, and you will see that a well planned and executed trilogy is a one way ticket to success.

So how do you do it? Do you just take an idea and spin it out over three stories? Or do you just come up with a great character and three great premises and you’re home and hosed?

Neither actually!

The success of the trilogy is based on the traditional three act play, where book or movie one is act one, book or movie two is act two, and book or movie three is act three. The only ingredients you need are one great big story running behind three stories compelling enough to carry a movie or book on their own, and you’ve got the basic ingredients you need to succeed.

So if you are the type of writer who thinks big, if your scope is broad and your plots complex and intertwined, and your characters are people on a life’s journey, then trying to squash that all into one book may be too many chocolate chips in the cookie. Giving yourself the room to think, plan and write a larger journey over three books will make each one a better book in its own right, and if you do get it right, you’ve got a guaranteed audience for books two and three. And publishers love that!

The most important element to grasp as you embark on the trilogy adventure is that you are dealing with a multilayered project. Unlike the acts of a play, the individual stories in a trilogy need to stand up on their own, in addition to playing a part in a larger drama.

So let’s take a look at how you can go about turning your dreams of epic tales into the reality of a trilogy.

How To Build Your Trilogy

1. Decide on your over-arcing or larger story.

This is definitely the most important first step by far. Without it you don’t have any story, let alone a trilogy.

Some examples of great larger stories are:

a) a leper passes out on the floor of his lounge room and wakes to find himself in a strange land. There, instead of being treated as an outcast, he is considered a savior and the question is asked, will Thomas Covenant accept his destiny and save The Land? The larger story: will Lord Foul prevail or will Covenant save The Land?

b) a farm boy dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. He meets a Jedi Knight and trains in the ancient art. The question is asked, will Luke Skywalker become a Jedi, save the Rebels and bring freedom to the Galaxy, or will he turn to the Dark Side like his father? The larger story: who will prevail, light or dark, good or evil, The Rebels or The Empire?

c) a man is found floating off the coast of Marseilles. He has no idea who he is. As he attempts to find out, will he learn his true identity, or will Jason Bourne wish he’d never asked? The larger story: it is one man against the world, as Jason Bourne challenges the might of the CIA, and who will prevail?

These are just a few examples of the initial questions asked, the initial journeys laid out before the heroes and the ultimate possibilities open to the creator of a great trilogy. Nail your larger story, and backdrop it against anything from war to a love story and you’ll have a great basis to work from.

2. Each book in the trilogy is roughly the equivalent to an act in a screenplay.

In the three act play, Act One is “The Set Up” or “Decision To Act”, Act Two is “The Confrontation” or “The Action” and Act Three is “The Resolution” or “The Result Of The Action”.

When you are planning out your larger story (which you will do first) this breakdown will help you form the basis of each of the books in your trilogy. In Book One, you will cover the elements of the larger story that take that story through the set up phase and onto the threshold of another world, or some different action. Book Two will follow with the result of what was decided in Book One, as the story moves forward through the crisis/ordeal/midpoint and traditionally ends on a dark note. This leaves Book Three open to rescue the heroes from the jaws of defeat as the larger story reaches its climax and all the initial questions are answered. Planning this out in the earliest stages will give you very strong guidelines as to where to go with each individual book’s plot, structure and characters.

3. Each book must stand alone as a complete story in itself.

This is where you need to be very aware of the layered aspect of this process. You have a larger story you are telling in the style of the three act play. Now you need to plan, structure and write three stores within that structure that fulfill all the criteria of successful books in their own right. So take “The Set Up” phase and construct a story showing how you would set up your larger story. It’s very common here to have a reluctant hero, who hears the call to adventure and refuses. Thomas Covenant is a good example of this. Thus the entire first book can be the process of the hero trying to escape the call. In a different scenario, you may have a willing hero, like Luke Skywalker or Frodo for instance and the first book may be a complete hero’s journey in itself, showing how the hero is embracing the quest or task, but still leaves the greater part of the task to be completed.

Possibly the most important thing to remember is to hold information or events back as long as you can. It’s tempting when you’re writing a trilogy to put too much in up front, but doing that is a mistake. Give your readers some credit for intelligence and imagination, and don’t tell them everything up front. Trilogies are a great tool for holding back secrets and springing surprises on your readers to keep them guessing. Good examples of this are Darth Vader revealing he is Luke’s father at the end of the second episode in that trilogy, the interesting faux “love story” between Elizabeth and Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Carribean and the scene at the end of the second Bourne film which is repeated right near the climax of the third film. You are in a great position to lead your readers wherever you want them to go so use it!

4. Your characters must have “legs”.

There is nothing worse than flat, lifeless characters and there is definitely nothing worse than trying to hold our attention with these flat and lifeless characters for three whole books. Make sure you do your homework on your characters just as you would with any other book you write. Put their flaws and universal needs right there up front for us to see, you still need to grab your reader’s attention from page 1. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because you have three books you have more time and space to develop your story and characters. Wrong! If anything you are under more pressure to hook us straight away, because we’re not going to keep reading if we’re not interested, as we know that the story doesn’t actually finish until the end of the third book.

5. Your “golden thread” must run throughout all the three books.

This is where the intricate weaving of story on story and the skill of balancing the separate elements becomes critical. Your golden thread could be a war, a family saga over generations, a love story or a ring quest, but regardless of what it is, remember that THIS IS THE STORY YOU ARE ULTIMATELY TELLING. Star Wars is ultimately about the battle between the Rebels and the Empire, the Bourne movies are the story of one man against the CIA, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are about a leper who becomes a savior in a different world, and The Lord Of The Rings is the war of Middle-Earth. While there are countless subplots, character journeys, love stories and red herrings in all these tales, they all still have their own individual “golden threads” and ultimately the telling of the story is to serve this golden thread.

If you are prone to larger ideas, give this system a go. It may be just the breakthrough you need to get yourself on the publisher’s lists.

Are you a writer with big ideas? Are you always imagining epics, sweeping stories, great tales of human struggle and sacrifice, interlaced with personal stories of love, sadness and triumph? If so, you ought to consider turning your book or story idea into a trilogy.

Why a trilogy? Believe it or not, there are deep psychological reasons that we do things in threes. The holy trinity is the Father, the Son and the Holy Spirit, and the Triple Goddess is Maiden, Mother, Crone, detailing the feminine journey through life. How many times have you heard the phrase “third time lucky”, or given someone “three guesses” or “three chances”? And of course in baseball it’s “three strikes and you’re out!”

You will have no doubt heard of the traditional “three act play”. Almost all big Hollywood screenplays are based on this structure and it’s certainly a tried and true form of storytelling that captures viewers and keeps them going back to the cinema in droves. And the world of fantasy writing is packed with trilogies: The Lord of the Rings, The Chronicles of Thomas Covenant (that’s two trilogies in fact), and any story by Sara Douglass, Robin Hobb, Trudi Canavan or pretty much any fantasy writer in the world today is told across at least one, if not more, trilogies.

Add to that the success of such popular movie franchises as Star Wars, Pirates Of The Carribean and the Bourne movies, and you will see that a well planned and executed trilogy is a one way ticket to success.

So how do you do it? Do you just take an idea and spin it out over three stories? Or do you just come up with a great character and three great premises and you’re home and hosed?

Neither actually!

The success of the trilogy is based on the traditional three act play, where book or movie one is act one, book or movie two is act two, and book or movie three is act three. The only ingredients you need are one great big story running behind three stories compelling enough to carry a movie or book on their own, and you’ve got the basic ingredients you need to succeed.

So if you are the type of writer who thinks big, if your scope is broad and your plots complex and intertwined, and your characters are people on a life’s journey, then trying to squash that all into one book may be too many chocolate chips in the cookie. Giving yourself the room to think, plan and write a larger journey over three books will make each one a better book in its own right, and if you do get it right, you’ve got a guaranteed audience for books two and three. And publishers love that!

The most important element to grasp as you embark on the trilogy adventure is that you are dealing with a multilayered project. Unlike the acts of a play, the individual stories in a trilogy need to stand up on their own, in addition to playing a part in a larger drama.

So let’s take a look at how you can go about turning your dreams of epic tales into the reality of a trilogy.

How To Build Your Trilogy

1. Decide on your over-arcing or larger story.

This is definitely the most important first step by far. Without it you don’t have any story, let alone a trilogy.

Some examples of great larger stories are:

a) a leper passes out on the floor of his lounge room and wakes to find himself in a strange land. There, instead of being treated as an outcast, he is considered a savior and the question is asked, will Thomas Covenant accept his destiny and save The Land? The larger story: will Lord Foul prevail or will Covenant save The Land?

b) a farm boy dreams of becoming a fighter pilot. He meets a Jedi Knight and trains in the ancient art. The question is asked, will Luke Skywalker become a Jedi, save the Rebels and bring freedom to the Galaxy, or will he turn to the Dark Side like his father? The larger story: who will prevail, light or dark, good or evil, The Rebels or The Empire?

c) a man is found floating off the coast of Marseilles. He has no idea who he is. As he attempts to find out, will he learn his true identity, or will Jason Bourne wish he’d never asked? The larger story: it is one man against the world, as Jason Bourne challenges the might of the CIA, and who will prevail?

These are just a few examples of the initial questions asked, the initial journeys laid out before the heroes and the ultimate possibilities open to the creator of a great trilogy. Nail your larger story, and backdrop it against anything from war to a love story and you’ll have a great basis to work from.

2. Each book in the trilogy is roughly the equivalent to an act in a screenplay.

In the three act play, Act One is “The Set Up” or “Decision To Act”, Act Two is “The Confrontation” or “The Action” and Act Three is “The Resolution” or “The Result Of The Action”.

When you are planning out your larger story (which you will do first) this breakdown will help you form the basis of each of the books in your trilogy. In Book One, you will cover the elements of the larger story that take that story through the set up phase and onto the threshold of another world, or some different action. Book Two will follow with the result of what was decided in Book One, as the story moves forward through the crisis/ordeal/midpoint and traditionally ends on a dark note. This leaves Book Three open to rescue the heroes from the jaws of defeat as the larger story reaches its climax and all the initial questions are answered. Planning this out in the earliest stages will give you very strong guidelines as to where to go with each individual book’s plot, structure and characters.

3. Each book must stand alone as a complete story in itself.

This is where you need to be very aware of the layered aspect of this process. You have a larger story you are telling in the style of the three act play. Now you need to plan, structure and write three stores within that structure that fulfill all the criteria of successful books in their own right. So take “The Set Up” phase and construct a story showing how you would set up your larger story. It’s very common here to have a reluctant hero, who hears the call to adventure and refuses. Thomas Covenant is a good example of this. Thus the entire first book can be the process of the hero trying to escape the call. In a different scenario, you may have a willing hero, like Luke Skywalker or Frodo for instance and the first book may be a complete hero’s journey in itself, showing how the hero is embracing the quest or task, but still leaves the greater part of the task to be completed.

Possibly the most important thing to remember is to hold information or events back as long as you can. It’s tempting when you’re writing a trilogy to put too much in up front, but doing that is a mistake. Give your readers some credit for intelligence and imagination, and don’t tell them everything up front. Trilogies are a great tool for holding back secrets and springing surprises on your readers to keep them guessing. Good examples of this are Darth Vader revealing he is Luke’s father at the end of the second episode in that trilogy, the interesting faux “love story” between Elizabeth and Captain Jack Sparrow in the Pirates of the Carribean and the scene at the end of the second Bourne film which is repeated right near the climax of the third film. You are in a great position to lead your readers wherever you want them to go so use it!

4. Your characters must have “legs”.

There is nothing worse than flat, lifeless characters and there is definitely nothing worse than trying to hold our attention with these flat and lifeless characters for three whole books. Make sure you do your homework on your characters just as you would with any other book you write. Put their flaws and universal needs right there up front for us to see, you still need to grab your reader’s attention from page 1. Don’t fall into the trap of thinking that because you have three books you have more time and space to develop your story and characters. Wrong! If anything you are under more pressure to hook us straight away, because we’re not going to keep reading if we’re not interested, as we know that the story doesn’t actually finish until the end of the third book.

5. Your “golden thread” must run throughout all the three books.

This is where the intricate weaving of story on story and the skill of balancing the separate elements becomes critical. Your golden thread could be a war, a family saga over generations, a love story or a ring quest, but regardless of what it is, remember that THIS IS THE STORY YOU ARE ULTIMATELY TELLING. Star Wars is ultimately about the battle between the Rebels and the Empire, the Bourne movies are the story of one man against the CIA, the Chronicles of Thomas Covenant are about a leper who becomes a savior in a different world, and The Lord Of The Rings is the war of Middle-Earth. While there are countless subplots, character journeys, love stories and red herrings in all these tales, they all still have their own individual “golden threads” and ultimately the telling of the story is to serve this golden thread.

If you are prone to larger ideas, give this system a go. It may be just the breakthrough you need to get yourself on the publisher’s lists.

The more I read how the successful authors do it, the more I realize that, like successful people in all walks of life, they all do things in common that contribute enormously to their success. So how can we learn from successful authors to ensure our own success in 2008 and beyond?

We can start by adopting what I call “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Authors”. Adopt these 7 habits and you just may find that 2008 is the year you break through your own writing barriers!

1. Write about something you care about.

Whether you are writing fiction or non fiction, it is imperative you write about something you care about. The successful authors have some emotional connection to their content or story. If you are writing fiction, then write from a place of emotional familiarity. Your genuine experience will come through in your writing and your readers will connect with that. If you are writing a non fiction piece, choose a topic you are passionate or enthusiastic about. After all, if you are going to invest your precious time in what you are writing, you owe it to yourself to write with passion, feeling and enthusiasm.

2. Take risks

Don’t be afraid to put your head, or your hands, on the chopping block when you write. In the world of fiction, you will have no doubt heard about creating characters that are “larger than life”. That doesn’t mean they are giants, it means they go above and beyond and take risks and make decisions that we would not have the courage to take in our own lives. After all, it’s not about what we would do when we are tethered by the restrictions of polite behavior, it’s what we would do in our wildest imaginations that make our readers sit up and take notice.

For the non fiction writer, it’s time for you to take a stand. Take a view and stick with it, presenting your case with conviction and vigor. No one listens to someone who writes meekly, or with a wishy washy hand. Stick your neck out, and don’t be afraid to get it chopped off. All the greatest journalists are the ones who are not afraid to speak their minds. Get into that habit and you’re well on your way to being that next great journalist.

3. Plan

This is definitely the most ignored but equally the most important phase of the writing process. Planning is essential to the success of any undertaking and writing is no different. J.K. Rowling spent 5 years planning the entire Harry Potter series before she put pen to paper on a single word that appeared in the books. If you are writing a short story, novel or screenplay, planning the story before you begin writing is as essential to your success as ink in your pen or power to your laptop. There are some writers who claim to just start with an image or a sentence and then the whole thing just unfolds before them, but the writers who can do this with any degree of success are few and far between. Take the time to plan out your story, at the very least know where your beginning, middle and end are. The more planning you do, the more enjoyable the writing process and the less rewriting and editing you will have to do. The same goes for non fiction pieces, where it’s always advisable to have an outline in place before you write your article or book.

4. Write every day

Joyce Carol Oates said that she would write, even when her soul felt as thin as a playing card, because somehow the act of writing would set it aright. There are going to be times when you just “don’t feel like it”, but like any other job or activity that is important to you, you must still, somehow, sit down every day and write. It has been said that it is by sitting down every day to write that one becomes a writer. Stephen King writes every day, including Christmas Day. Whether you are working on a book, story, article or nothing, still sit down and write something every single day. Even if you only write one page every day, that’s 365 pages in a year and that’s a whole book, isn’t it? When you are a writer, you cannot not write, and writing is like breathing. You have an urge to put things down in print, so to keep that fresh and alive, you need to turn that tap on every day. It’s more than practice. It’s life.

5. Be prepared to work hard

I read somewhere once that John Grisham worked for 4 hours per day and made $20 million per year. Whether that is true or not (about the hours worked or the money he makes) doesn’t matter. It is far more common to hear tales today of the world’s most popular commercial authors working their proverbial butts off to keep up with deadlines, promotional commitments and the ins and outs of their everyday lives. Janet Evanovich gets up and writes every morning at 5am so she can get a full day’s writing in before she has to answer mail, emails and deal with her other affairs of business, Jodi Picoult has a wonderful stay-at-home husband who allows her the luxury of writing through school pick ups and travelling for long periods to do research for her novels. J.K. Rowling also said she (misguidedly) thought that life as an author would be a Jane Austen-type of affair, sitting in a room overlooking a field and writing in anonymity. Of course her life is a whirlwind of book launches, movie premieres, media commitments, school commitments, and of course she has a family with three children. And while we all no doubt wish we had her “problems” it is very obvious that in the early part of the 21st century, the life of an author, successful or not, is a hard-working life. We are either working hard to get noticed, working hard to stay noticed, or working hard to avoid being noticed. Any way you look at it, if you have an aversion to hard work, you need to look elsewhere. Successful authors work hard. Period.

6. Persistence

It is said that persistence outstrips all other virtues. I have a card propped up on my desk that says, “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go”. Almost every successful author I have studied has said that their success is due, at least in some part, to pure persistence and determination. If your manuscript or article is rejected, rewrite it and submit it again. Or submit it to someone else. The first Harry Potter novel was rejected by every major publishing house before Bloomsbury picked it up for a song. Even so called “overnight successes” have a story behind them about how many times they were rejected, or how many novels or articles they’ve written that have no value other than as fire kindling. The authors that succeed are the ones who don’t stop until they do. It’s that simple. Never give up. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.

7. Let it go

And finally when you have written your article, book or screenplay and have submitted it for publication or approval, let it go. If you’ve done the best you can with it, let it go and trust that it will make its way to where it needs to be. And start something else straight away. Regardless of whether what you have submitted is accepted or rejected, you are a writer and a writer writes. Once you finish one manuscript start immediately on another. If the one you’ve sent is picked up, they’ll be happy that you’ve got something new already, and if not you’re well on your way to finishing your next manuscript.

So those are the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Authors. Adopt these habits yourself, and before you know it, you too will join their ranks!

The more I read how the successful authors do it, the more I realize that, like successful people in all walks of life, they all do things in common that contribute enormously to their success. So how can we learn from successful authors to ensure our own success in 2008 and beyond?

We can start by adopting what I call “The 7 Habits of Highly Successful Authors”. Adopt these 7 habits and you just may find that 2008 is the year you break through your own writing barriers!

1. Write about something you care about.

Whether you are writing fiction or non fiction, it is imperative you write about something you care about. The successful authors have some emotional connection to their content or story. If you are writing fiction, then write from a place of emotional familiarity. Your genuine experience will come through in your writing and your readers will connect with that. If you are writing a non fiction piece, choose a topic you are passionate or enthusiastic about. After all, if you are going to invest your precious time in what you are writing, you owe it to yourself to write with passion, feeling and enthusiasm.

2. Take risks

Don’t be afraid to put your head, or your hands, on the chopping block when you write. In the world of fiction, you will have no doubt heard about creating characters that are “larger than life”. That doesn’t mean they are giants, it means they go above and beyond and take risks and make decisions that we would not have the courage to take in our own lives. After all, it’s not about what we would do when we are tethered by the restrictions of polite behavior, it’s what we would do in our wildest imaginations that make our readers sit up and take notice.

For the non fiction writer, it’s time for you to take a stand. Take a view and stick with it, presenting your case with conviction and vigor. No one listens to someone who writes meekly, or with a wishy washy hand. Stick your neck out, and don’t be afraid to get it chopped off. All the greatest journalists are the ones who are not afraid to speak their minds. Get into that habit and you’re well on your way to being that next great journalist.

3. Plan

This is definitely the most ignored but equally the most important phase of the writing process. Planning is essential to the success of any undertaking and writing is no different. J.K. Rowling spent 5 years planning the entire Harry Potter series before she put pen to paper on a single word that appeared in the books. If you are writing a short story, novel or screenplay, planning the story before you begin writing is as essential to your success as ink in your pen or power to your laptop. There are some writers who claim to just start with an image or a sentence and then the whole thing just unfolds before them, but the writers who can do this with any degree of success are few and far between. Take the time to plan out your story, at the very least know where your beginning, middle and end are. The more planning you do, the more enjoyable the writing process and the less rewriting and editing you will have to do. The same goes for non fiction pieces, where it’s always advisable to have an outline in place before you write your article or book.

4. Write every day

Joyce Carol Oates said that she would write, even when her soul felt as thin as a playing card, because somehow the act of writing would set it aright. There are going to be times when you just “don’t feel like it”, but like any other job or activity that is important to you, you must still, somehow, sit down every day and write. It has been said that it is by sitting down every day to write that one becomes a writer. Stephen King writes every day, including Christmas Day. Whether you are working on a book, story, article or nothing, still sit down and write something every single day. Even if you only write one page every day, that’s 365 pages in a year and that’s a whole book, isn’t it? When you are a writer, you cannot not write, and writing is like breathing. You have an urge to put things down in print, so to keep that fresh and alive, you need to turn that tap on every day. It’s more than practice. It’s life.

5. Be prepared to work hard

I read somewhere once that John Grisham worked for 4 hours per day and made $20 million per year. Whether that is true or not (about the hours worked or the money he makes) doesn’t matter. It is far more common to hear tales today of the world’s most popular commercial authors working their proverbial butts off to keep up with deadlines, promotional commitments and the ins and outs of their everyday lives. Janet Evanovich gets up and writes every morning at 5am so she can get a full day’s writing in before she has to answer mail, emails and deal with her other affairs of business, Jodi Picoult has a wonderful stay-at-home husband who allows her the luxury of writing through school pick ups and travelling for long periods to do research for her novels. J.K. Rowling also said she (misguidedly) thought that life as an author would be a Jane Austen-type of affair, sitting in a room overlooking a field and writing in anonymity. Of course her life is a whirlwind of book launches, movie premieres, media commitments, school commitments, and of course she has a family with three children. And while we all no doubt wish we had her “problems” it is very obvious that in the early part of the 21st century, the life of an author, successful or not, is a hard-working life. We are either working hard to get noticed, working hard to stay noticed, or working hard to avoid being noticed. Any way you look at it, if you have an aversion to hard work, you need to look elsewhere. Successful authors work hard. Period.

6. Persistence

It is said that persistence outstrips all other virtues. I have a card propped up on my desk that says, “Success seems to be largely a matter of hanging on after others have let go”. Almost every successful author I have studied has said that their success is due, at least in some part, to pure persistence and determination. If your manuscript or article is rejected, rewrite it and submit it again. Or submit it to someone else. The first Harry Potter novel was rejected by every major publishing house before Bloomsbury picked it up for a song. Even so called “overnight successes” have a story behind them about how many times they were rejected, or how many novels or articles they’ve written that have no value other than as fire kindling. The authors that succeed are the ones who don’t stop until they do. It’s that simple. Never give up. Winners never quit, and quitters never win.

7. Let it go

And finally when you have written your article, book or screenplay and have submitted it for publication or approval, let it go. If you’ve done the best you can with it, let it go and trust that it will make its way to where it needs to be. And start something else straight away. Regardless of whether what you have submitted is accepted or rejected, you are a writer and a writer writes. Once you finish one manuscript start immediately on another. If the one you’ve sent is picked up, they’ll be happy that you’ve got something new already, and if not you’re well on your way to finishing your next manuscript.

So those are the 7 Habits of Highly Successful Authors. Adopt these habits yourself, and before you know it, you too will join their ranks!

Writers live a solitary life. That’s a fact. You spend hours planning, writing, rewriting and editing your masterpieces, only to have them rejected by every agent or publisher you have the courage to show them to.

So wouldn’t it be fabulous to have an on-call writing mentor, a wise and experienced coach to guide you through your writer’s journey?

Well, you have! Here, captured in the timeless wisdom of one of the greatest mentors in storytelling history, the great Jedi Master, Yoda, are 10 simple tips guaranteed to transform you into a Jedi Knight of the Write!

“You must unlearn what you have learned.”

When commencing anything new, you need to arrive at the front door with an open mind and your judgment suspended. Most importantly, leave any old training and ingrained ideas about the topic you are learning, well and truly outside that door. Writing is absolutely no exception to this rule. I have found it much easier to teach complete novices, and those with open minds, than trained journalists or graduates of writing courses, especially when it comes to the basics of freeing the imagination for fiction. For those of you who think you need to write it perfectly the first time &ndash unlearn that! For those of you who think you write with the logical, left side of your brain &ndash unlearn that! For those of you who think that only a gifted few can write well &ndash unlearn that! And for those of you who think you can only write when touched by the muses &ndash unlearn that! If you can think and speak, then you can write. Period. No other prerequisites required.

“(What’s in there?) Only what you take with you.”

The world of fiction is the world of your experiences mixed with your imagination. As you venture into this world to retrieve the images, feelings, impressions and ideas in the way that is truly unique to you, you do indeed learn that the only things you can encounter there are the things that you take in with you. No one else on the planet, or in history for that matter, is where you are now, has been through what you’ve been through or has your own unique view of the world. Honour these views and experiences. Allow them to flow freely through your pen or fingers. It is only when you write truly that others will relate to your words. Readers can spot a fake a mile away.

“Try not, do or do not, there is no try.”

This may come as a surprise but you must never try to write well, or you will never write well. Don’t try, just do. In other words, capture first thoughts, keep the pen moving, let yourself write complete garbage. Just do it. Just write. It is only by sitting down every day and writing that one becomes a writer.

“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.”

Substitute the “Force” with the “Unconscious” or the “Imagination”, and you’ll have a better idea of what this Yoda-ism means. As a writer, your strength flows from your own unconscious, as this is where all your collective experiences, impressions and memories are buried, just waiting to be exhumed as challenges for your characters. The ability to exercise these creative muscles, keeping them strong and toned, is the fuel that will power your stories.

“There is no why.”

One of the greatest leaps you can make in your writing, and indeed in your life, is the ability to stop asking why! Do not seek the reason for anything you write. Do not seek the reason behind the images you see, the voices you hear, the impressions you get, the dialogue you write. It just is. And it is, because it’s you, and only you, who can write that at this time. As soon as you stop to ask why, you drop into an analytical frame of mind, and genius is lost. Creativity is stifled. Imagination cannot function. Let the critics ask why. That’s their job. Your only answer to the question of why? need be “because it was there.”

“You must complete the training.”

When it comes to writing, or any other art form, talent or genius actually count for very little. Writing is a craft, and like any other craft, the writer needs to work at it constantly, honing his skills and refining his technique. Study your craft, learn from many teachers, add to your skill set, it will make you a much better writer. And it was Michael Jordan who said, “the harder I trained, the luckier I became”. Keep studying. Always be in training. As a writer you are like an athlete. Footballer players don’t hang out at home all week, or spend their days surfing or playing golf. They train, they practice, they work out at the gym, and it is this that gives them the strength, skill and finesse to win games on the field. You are no different.

“Only different in your mind.”

Life is lived in the human mind. The advances in quantum physics have proven that the universe arose from thought, and that we can influence anything in our lives simply by the thought we put to it. The same goes for your writing. If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. If you think you can sell more books that JK Rowling, then you’ve got a much greater chance than someone who thinks they can’t. Anything is achievable for you as a writer, as long as you put the thought to it that you can and will succeed.

“Control. You must learn control.”

One of the most frustrating elements of being a writer is finding the time to write. If you hold down a full time job, run a business, or have a family to care for and an active social life, it can be tempting to say “I’ll write that novel next year/when the kids are grown/when I retire” etc. This is where self control is imperative to the success of your creative endeavours. You only need to write one scene a day, which can take as little as 20 minutes, and in a year you will have 365 scenes, which will be the best part of the first draft of a novel. Don’t wait. Learn to control your inner voice that says, “You can’t do it”, or “Don’t be so selfish”, or “The bathroom is dirty, go clean it”. Sit down and write every day. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself.

“Nothing more will I teach you today.”

Take your writing lessons, and your writing sessions, in bite-sized pieces. When you are learning new writing techniques, take the lessons at a pace that keeps you stimulated, but not overwhelmed. Taking on too many new ideas or concepts at once can tend to muddy the creative and productive waters. It is best to learn a new technique, then practice it and integrate it before moving onto the next one.

“Pass on what you have learned.”

As you travel the writing path, take the time to teach others that which you have learned. Even if it’s only a simple word of encouragement or a tip that helped you when you were just starting out, keeping the flow of information alive is the greatest gift you can give to others. Pass on what you have learned.

So, as you can see, anytime you need him, Yoda will be there to help you through. And remember, the only failure is stopping, so keep on writing!

Writers live a solitary life. That’s a fact. You spend hours planning, writing, rewriting and editing your masterpieces, only to have them rejected by every agent or publisher you have the courage to show them to.

So wouldn’t it be fabulous to have an on-call writing mentor, a wise and experienced coach to guide you through your writer’s journey?

Well, you have! Here, captured in the timeless wisdom of one of the greatest mentors in storytelling history, the great Jedi Master, Yoda, are 10 simple tips guaranteed to transform you into a Jedi Knight of the Write!

“You must unlearn what you have learned.”

When commencing anything new, you need to arrive at the front door with an open mind and your judgment suspended. Most importantly, leave any old training and ingrained ideas about the topic you are learning, well and truly outside that door. Writing is absolutely no exception to this rule. I have found it much easier to teach complete novices, and those with open minds, than trained journalists or graduates of writing courses, especially when it comes to the basics of freeing the imagination for fiction. For those of you who think you need to write it perfectly the first time &ndash unlearn that! For those of you who think you write with the logical, left side of your brain &ndash unlearn that! For those of you who think that only a gifted few can write well &ndash unlearn that! And for those of you who think you can only write when touched by the muses &ndash unlearn that! If you can think and speak, then you can write. Period. No other prerequisites required.

“(What’s in there?) Only what you take with you.”

The world of fiction is the world of your experiences mixed with your imagination. As you venture into this world to retrieve the images, feelings, impressions and ideas in the way that is truly unique to you, you do indeed learn that the only things you can encounter there are the things that you take in with you. No one else on the planet, or in history for that matter, is where you are now, has been through what you’ve been through or has your own unique view of the world. Honour these views and experiences. Allow them to flow freely through your pen or fingers. It is only when you write truly that others will relate to your words. Readers can spot a fake a mile away.

“Try not, do or do not, there is no try.”

This may come as a surprise but you must never try to write well, or you will never write well. Don’t try, just do. In other words, capture first thoughts, keep the pen moving, let yourself write complete garbage. Just do it. Just write. It is only by sitting down every day and writing that one becomes a writer.

“A Jedi’s strength flows from the Force.”

Substitute the “Force” with the “Unconscious” or the “Imagination”, and you’ll have a better idea of what this Yoda-ism means. As a writer, your strength flows from your own unconscious, as this is where all your collective experiences, impressions and memories are buried, just waiting to be exhumed as challenges for your characters. The ability to exercise these creative muscles, keeping them strong and toned, is the fuel that will power your stories.

“There is no why.”

One of the greatest leaps you can make in your writing, and indeed in your life, is the ability to stop asking why! Do not seek the reason for anything you write. Do not seek the reason behind the images you see, the voices you hear, the impressions you get, the dialogue you write. It just is. And it is, because it’s you, and only you, who can write that at this time. As soon as you stop to ask why, you drop into an analytical frame of mind, and genius is lost. Creativity is stifled. Imagination cannot function. Let the critics ask why. That’s their job. Your only answer to the question of why? need be “because it was there.”

“You must complete the training.”

When it comes to writing, or any other art form, talent or genius actually count for very little. Writing is a craft, and like any other craft, the writer needs to work at it constantly, honing his skills and refining his technique. Study your craft, learn from many teachers, add to your skill set, it will make you a much better writer. And it was Michael Jordan who said, “the harder I trained, the luckier I became”. Keep studying. Always be in training. As a writer you are like an athlete. Footballer players don’t hang out at home all week, or spend their days surfing or playing golf. They train, they practice, they work out at the gym, and it is this that gives them the strength, skill and finesse to win games on the field. You are no different.

“Only different in your mind.”

Life is lived in the human mind. The advances in quantum physics have proven that the universe arose from thought, and that we can influence anything in our lives simply by the thought we put to it. The same goes for your writing. If you think you can, or you think you can’t, you’re right. If you think you can sell more books that JK Rowling, then you’ve got a much greater chance than someone who thinks they can’t. Anything is achievable for you as a writer, as long as you put the thought to it that you can and will succeed.

“Control. You must learn control.”

One of the most frustrating elements of being a writer is finding the time to write. If you hold down a full time job, run a business, or have a family to care for and an active social life, it can be tempting to say “I’ll write that novel next year/when the kids are grown/when I retire” etc. This is where self control is imperative to the success of your creative endeavours. You only need to write one scene a day, which can take as little as 20 minutes, and in a year you will have 365 scenes, which will be the best part of the first draft of a novel. Don’t wait. Learn to control your inner voice that says, “You can’t do it”, or “Don’t be so selfish”, or “The bathroom is dirty, go clean it”. Sit down and write every day. It’s the greatest gift you can give yourself.

“Nothing more will I teach you today.”

Take your writing lessons, and your writing sessions, in bite-sized pieces. When you are learning new writing techniques, take the lessons at a pace that keeps you stimulated, but not overwhelmed. Taking on too many new ideas or concepts at once can tend to muddy the creative and productive waters. It is best to learn a new technique, then practice it and integrate it before moving onto the next one.

“Pass on what you have learned.”

As you travel the writing path, take the time to teach others that which you have learned. Even if it’s only a simple word of encouragement or a tip that helped you when you were just starting out, keeping the flow of information alive is the greatest gift you can give to others. Pass on what you have learned.

So, as you can see, anytime you need him, Yoda will be there to help you through. And remember, the only failure is stopping, so keep on writing!