Writer Wisdom

Gosh, where do I start? This is what I do so I could go on for hours but I’ll list the most important lessons. (I will be tough.)

• Write about what you know.
• For example, this is your first book and you’re writing a detective mystery about a body being found on an archaeology site. Why would you do this to yourself? Do you know how much research you would have to do? What do you know about police procedures? What do you know about archaeology?
• Write about what YOU know. When you write about something you’re passionate about, something you’ve actually experienced. That will come across in your writing. Giving it depth, realism and valid description.

• Remember the three essentials.
• Editor (No, not your mum or next-door neighbour)
• Formatter ( No, not a converter. A formatter makes it pretty inside, adds the chapter and front and back matter.)
• Cover Designer (No, not Canva or Fiverr)
• These three essential cost a lot of money and if you don’t have that money, then you are not ready to publish.

• Don’t cut corners.
  Your book has to be polished before it goes out to the public. It needs the three essentials and a kick-arse blurb. Your book has one chance to be a success, if you send it out after writing the first draft, not having it edited and using a cover you did, I can guarantee failure. And that’s a word we authors DON’T want to hear.
  
• Have that first line ready.
  The tag line is what you will use on your promos, graphics or posts. It’s going to be the first thing a potential reader sees when they look at the blurb. That one line has to have power, it needs to pack a punch so that the person who reads it will then continue to read the rest of the blurb.
• Anything worth dying for is certainly worth living for – Catch 22.
• Whatever our souls are made of, his and mine are the same – Wuthering heights.
• Paul Sheldon used to write for a living. Now he’s writing to stay alive. – Misery.
• They are feared, hated, hunted down and destroyed….and yet they are mankind’s last hope. -The Aldoron Chronicles.

Serving authors since 2015