Writing the Novel: The End in Mind

If your dream is to be a novelist then begin with the end in mind. And what is the end? It is this: the book in your hand, the book on the shelf. That is the end you are working towards. What else? Once you have that, no matter what happens to impede you, to slow you down, if you can firmly hold on to that image of the book in your hand then you have leaped from the realm of possibility to the realm of reality. The human mind does not make the distinction between that which is imagined and that which is physically real. If you can, make...

Editing: Part 1

I have no doubt, that most writing is in fact, editing and re-writing. Some believe that a short-story, novel, play, poem just pour out onto the page, fully clothed, ready to leap into our imagination. This isn't true. Never was. Until AI systems take over the world and replace us, I think we can safely assume it will remain this way.So why is it so important to state the obvious? It is about the mindset required to craft a good piece of writing. No writer will produce a piece of work ready for publication on the very first go. So why berate...