Tips for budding writers

Have you ever wondered how authors come up with their ideas? How long it takes them to write a book? Who they get to help them? What they do when they encounter the dreaded writer's block? Aussie author Justyn Walker has some tips on how to turn a boresome story into an awesome story!

My time as a writer has been a lot of learn-as-you-go hard work. Here are some things that I think are worth mentioning.

Planning

I take a lot of time to brainstorm ideas for my stories before I put the first word on the page. I use a notebook to collect ideas and then try to map out a rough direction for the story. I think the more ideas I have to start with, the less chance I have of getting the dreaded writer's block later on.

In every story there are three important building blocks:

• the characters
• the setting
• the plot

Make sure you spend time on each of these areas. Many stories are let down by a lousy plot, or weak characters, or a setting that doesn't draw you in.

Writing

There's no book until you sit down and write one. Try to set a writing target: I'm going to write half a chapter each day, or, I'm going to sit down for an hour each day and type! I find many ideas come to me as I'm actually writing.

"Is the secret to writing a novel just long descriptions?"

Someone asked me this once. I think writers have to be careful that the flow of their book isn't thrown off by too many words. The more I continue to write, the more I am realising that writing is all about choosing the right words.

Editing

Editing is more than just spelling and punctuation. It means looking at the whole story and seeing what it needs. My manuscripts go through months of editing before they are ready. This often means the final story is very different from the first draft. e.g. Readers may be surprised to learn that Agent MM was not in the first draft of "The Magician's Daughter"!

I suggest to everyone that they give their manuscript to a group of people who represent their target audience. By that I mean the people you are writing the book for. I used a team of kids from local schools to critique all of my books. I gave them a copy of the draft manuscript and they had 2 weeks to read it and comment. I find kids give very blunt and helpful feedback!

What next?

If you are still in school, you might take advantage of the many writing competitions that Australia has to offer. The first prize for many of these competitions is having your story published! It is also really good practise to stretch your writing skills. (I started out as a kid in a writing club, writing for competitions, trying to win prizes.)

Another option is to publish the story yourself and hand it around to your friends and teachers. You never know who might read it one day and sign you up for a publishing contract!