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| Photo courtesy of Stuart Miles/ FreeDigitalPhotos.net |
It’s common for us to grab
snippets of inspiration from other authors, especially those who have enjoyed
some measure of success. Last week I came across an article in the latest
edition of Newswrite1, the member’s magazine for the NSW Writers Centre, where Hannah Kent shared her five bits of advice she wish she’d been
given when starting out on her writing journey.
If you’re unfamiliar with
Hannah Kent, she’s an Aussie who has received critical acclaim for
her debut novel, Burial Rites. Funny, I was just looking at my previous post for ICFW and I mentioned
that Burial Rites was the next novel
in my TBR pile. Unfortunately, I’ve got sidetracked on others in my pile so
have still to tackle it.
I’ve watched and read a few
interviews with Hannah and it’s quite apparent she is a very accomplished
author and has a natural talent for writing. So I was intrigued to read her
five bits of advice. What struck me was that the five were nothing I hadn’t
read before but Hannah had her own particular insight into each that I thought
I’d share with you all.
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| Photo courtesy of HannahKentauthor.com |
1. Read
One of the old maxims: “Read a
lot, write a lot,” which I’m sure we’re all familiar. Hannah expressed a view
that we should read widely. “How else will you work out what is good and what
is bad?”
Historically, I’ve tended to
read mostly in my own genre, but have started to read more outside of it. And I
am enjoying the freshness that comes from reading other genres but it’s also
great to then switch back to something fast and edgy.
2. Cultivate Empathy
As Hannah states, this is an
important life skill. For a writer, “empathy will enable you not only to write
about characters very different from yourself, but to understand them too. It
will help you create character motivation, backgrounds, voice.”
“Empathy, put simply, will give
you a keener insight into the human heart.”
Hannah mentions that reading
literary fiction was recently proven to increase a reader’s ability to
empathise. She encourages authors when they’re people watching (as well do) to try
to put yourself in others shoes (or minds) and ask what they may be feeling or
wanting out of a particular situation. I must try it this week when I’m
standing in a queue at the grocery store.
3. Work hard, be disciplined
Even though she was intuitively
good at language it surprised her how essential diligence was to completing her
novel. Hannah stresses the importance of adopting a “professional attitude.”
This is consistent with what so many others have said and was an important
takeaway that I gleaned a number of years ago, especially after reading Steven Pressfield’s “The War of Art.” A professional turns up every day;
they honour deadlines (even their own) and don’t shirk the responsibility of
getting the work done.
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| Photo courtesy of StevenPressfield.com |
4. Expect it to be difficult and
don’t expect to feel ready
All of us would wholeheartedly
agree with this one. Mastering anything requires hard work. Certainly, writing
comes more intuitively to some authors (I’m not one of them) just like with any
skill.
Hannah acknowledges the
anxieties we all experience as we sit down at the computer:
“Writing is difficult, and your
doubt won’t dissipate overnight. Be patient with yourself. What will happen is
that you’ll become accustomed to the doubt and difficulty. You’ll accept it as
an intrinsic part of the writing process, and this preparedness will help you
eventually ignore it.”
One of the struggles I think
many of us experience is getting into the groove. When you’re only able to grab
“moments of a day” to write, establishing one’s flow can take a while and I
find the longer it takes the more the anxieties badger me and distractions
become more attractive.
It’s where having a collaborator
in the Holy Spirit is such a blessing. He knows our anxieties and it’s in
surrendering them to Him and soldiering on that we can experience release
allowing us to get into a good writing groove.
5. Write from the Soul
Hannah differentiates writing
from the heart to writing from the soul. It was her thoughts on what this means
that most captured my attention and has given me added encouragement in my
writing these past few days.
“Writing from the soul means to
write about that which moves you at a profound level or in order to discover
meaning, and to have purity of intention. You’ll know when you’re writing from
the soul because the writing becomes the reward.”
My characters have appreciated
this in recent days by being able to express themselves where prior to that
they felt constrained by my inhibitions.
Write because you love it,
“because there is no other way for you to breathe.”
Love that.
What of Hannah’s five grabbed
your attention the most and/or what piece of advice do you wish you had known
before you started out on your writing journey?
Ian Acheson is an author
and strategy consultant based in Northern Sydney. Ian's first novel of
speculative fiction, Angelguard, is now available in the US, UK, Canada and Australia. You can
find more about Angelguard at Ian's website, on his author Facebook page and Twitter
