PD James 10 Tips for Writing

[CupofJoe]

PD James' top 10 tips for writing a novel
Not directly fantasy related in her advice and it is her personal opinion.

Although she didn't publish her first novel until she was 42, Phyllis Dorothy James had been writing since childhood. Now a celebrated crime writer, she has penned more than 20 books, including The Children Of Men, and the Adam Dalgliesh mystery series.
At the age of 93, she says she wants to write just one more detective novel.
Here are her top 10 tips for being an author.

 

[Sparkie]

Perhaps it makes a huge hypocrite out of me, but I really like the ninth point she makes. It's easy to talk about writing a book, but actually writing it is hard. Not talking about the project you're working on until it's finished seems like a good idea to me.

(Of course, I've broken this rule many, many times. I'm sure most of us here at MS have at one time or another. Communicating with other writers is important, but beware lest it hamper your writing.)

 

[A. E. Lowan]

I agree, the ninth point really is an excellent one, but maybe not in the way she really means. I have a crit-partner relationship with Teacup, and one of the things that really makes it work is that we have a very strict "no spoilers" rule, which means we absolutely can't talk about what's coming up next in our WIPs (we have a chapter trade-off editing arrangement). We talk about what we've written and read, and we share vague "what if" ideas for planning ahead, but if there are definite plans for cool stuff, mum's the word. What this does is force us to actually write the story so we can share the ideas we're so excited about, and thus we've gotten tons written by working together.

 

[teacup]

I agree, the ninth point really is an excellent one, but maybe not in the way she really means. I have a crit-partner relationship with Teacup, and one of the things that really makes it work is that we have a very strict "no spoilers" rule, which means we absolutely can't talk about what's coming up next in our WIPs (we have a chapter trade-off editing arrangement). We talk about what we've written and read, and we share vague "what if" ideas for planning ahead, but if there are definite plans for cool stuff, mum's the word. What this does is force us to actually write the story so we can share the ideas we're so excited about, and thus we've gotten tons written by working together.

I can confirm this, I am teacup.

 

[Sparkie]

I am teacup.