About

I'm often asked 'where do you get your ideas from, for your novels?' Unfortunately, there is no silver bullet that I can reference to say 'go there' or 'try this' as in my opinion, it doesn't exist. Personal experience counts for a lot and if you think about the characters that you've met in your life or things that have happened to you, with a bit of creative thinking, you might be surprised if the gem of an idea for a novel begins to materialise. And if it does, hold onto it. One day you might find yourself with some time to rekindle the idea and before you know it, you've started writing that novel that apparently we all have within us.

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As I have a full-time job and only write in my spare time (when I'm blessed with any), it takes me a long time to complete a novel. And if it happens that I find myself with a spare hour, it doesn't necessarily mean that I'm in the 'creative zone' to write. I believe that if you want to embark on creative writing, you need to find the time that works best for you. For me, that tends to be first thing in the morning, anywhere between 6.00am to around 8.30am. This is when I feel most 'in the mood' to put pen to paper and write.  

 

A few tips that I would also suggest are, first, if you stop-start your novel, don't go back to the beginning and feel the need to edit everything that you've already written - you can do that later. Just go back to the beginning of the chapter you're on to pick up the story and begin again from there. Second, read good books, and pick up tips on how successful authors set the scene for their stories and how they make their characters realistic and come to life. Look at how they construct sentences and describe the action and use these techniques in your novel. Finally, divide your story into bite size chunks. Don't feel you have to write it all in one go. Break it down into chapters and focus on what you want to say within each chapter. That way, the task will not appear as daunting as you think and you'll be surprised at how quickly those chapters come together as a novel.  

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Good luck! 

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Phil