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Finding the idea of writing a whole book or novel intimidating? Try borrowing a leaf out of Finola Moorhead’s book and writing a ‘Novel in Ten Lines’. Avoid a synopsis: instead aim to get a sense of character, mood, place and style. The goal is to reflect on the ways in which a fragment, even an enigmatic one, can reflect something essential about the larger thing it refers to.
Having trouble getting started? Try choosing a piece of writing you love, and copying it out like a medieval scholar. Keep going as long as you can, copying faithfully word for word, until you feel the urge to let your own words slip in. Whenever you get stuck, go back to the source and pick up where you left off.
Write (fake) reviews of your books. Imagine you’re James Wood, or Dale Peck, or local reviewers like Peter Craven or Malcolm Knox. Or even an in-house publisher’s reader. Even before you’ve written a word of the novel or book, before you’re sure what it will be about, write down what you hope readers will one day say about your work, and make that your goal. Pin key phrases up on near your desk and remember that’s what you want to create: not (just) a finished book, but a meaningful and engaged reaction.
This is an exercise for developing a character’s voice and view of the world. Decide on or recall your character’s profession or a hobby that they spend a lot of time engaging in. Write down as many words as you can think of associated with this work: jargon, phrases, words that are used differently by boilermakers or seamstresses than they are by common folk. Use these words, images and phrases to ‘colour’ their thinking, observation and speech.
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