I was wondering this month about what to choose as subject for this blog, so I had a wander about the internet to see what successful writers said on the craft of writing.

But first you must try to understand what success means to you. What do you really desire? If it is celebrity status like JK Rowling, Ernest Hemingway, and Stephen King then I suspect you will be disappointed. There is no magic formula for success on that scale. These writers are like ‘black swans’ blessed with great creative skill and perhaps a destined by fate to good fortune.

What they all show, however, is a tenacious spirit to continue and not accept failure. JK Rowling was turned down by 12 publishers before finding success with her Harry Potter Books. She comments:

“I haven’t got ten rules that guarantee success, although I promise I’d share them if I did. The truth is that I found success by stumbling off alone in a direction most people thought was a dead end, breaking all the 1990s shibboleths about children’s books in the process. Male protagonists are unfashionable. Boarding schools are anathema. No kids book should be longer than 45,000 words.”

Stephen King again was turned down countless times but used failure as a fuel to continue his work. Frank Herbert’s ground breaking sci-fi “Dune” was rejected by publishers twenty times.

If you are seeing a pattern here: ‘if at first your don’t succeed, try, try again’ – you are right. But stamina in adversity alone will not make you a successful writer. For every JK Rowlings there are thousands of wannabe writers that give there all but fail. This is the nature of the publishing world.

In my early school days I believed that if you worked hard enough you could achieve anything. And in my own development this largely proved right – from O’Levels to ‘A’ levels, Degree, professional qualifications and a rewarding career. But I have also seen the pain of others who fell along the way. Sometimes determination simply isn’t enough. And in the creative world of writing this is even more so. Hard work is necessary, but it is not a sufficient condition for success

So I ask again, what does success mean to you? If it means the joy of learning your craft, creating an emotional bond with your readers and becoming a better writer, then you need to study your craft. The best advice by Stephen King and others is to read a lot, and write a lot. Mark Twain said to read bad books too. You can learn from the mistakes of other writers. Most successful writers also emphasise the need for discipline in writing, which means having a writing schedule – a word count per day (something I am personally very bad at).

You also need to get the basics right. Most writers advocate a simple writing style, avoiding long flowery sentences and long paragraphs. Avoid too many adverbs and adjectives. Use strong verbs and avoid weak qualifiers like “very’. Stick to one point of view per scene (first person, third person restricted, or omnipotent). Follow the dialogue format of starting each new character’s dialogue as a new paragraph. This creates white spaces on the page that are less intimidating to the reader than large blocks of text. Cut out excess material that is irrelevant to the storyline. These are just some of the basics that novice writers need to follow religiously.

Avoid giving your reader too much information. You need to raise questions in their minds to encourage them to read on. Ernest Hemingway is often associated with the “Iceberg Theory” of writing. This is the idea that a writer should only reveal a small portion of the story, with the bulk of the meaning and emotion implied. No one wants full-on dialogue or thoughts that are obvious to the reader.

Focus on the story. Many of my blogs have been about story. It is what delivers the emotional effect on the reader. Frank Herbert said:

“The single most important piece of advice I ever got was to concentrate on story. What is ‘story’? It’s the quality that keeps the reader following the narrative. A good story makes interesting things happen to a character with whom the reader can identify. And it keeps them happening, so that the character progresses and grows in stature…A writer’s job is to do whatever is necessary to make the reader want to read the next line.”

Stories need to feel real. Hemingway’s advice was as follows:

“All good books are alike in that they are truer than if they had really happened and after you are finished reading one you will feel that all that happened to you and afterwards it all belongs to you; the good and the bad, the ecstasy, the remorse and sorrow, the people and the places and how the weather was.”

Hemingway was a believer in studying people – watching them and listening to their dialogue. It’s good advice, but don’t follow it too literally or you may be taken as a stalker!

Having raised the issue of the weather it is best never to start a novel with the weather such as: “It was a dark and stormy night”. It’s such a cliche. Find another way of capturing the readers’ immediate attention.

Lastly, if you have never written a draft novel yet, bear in mind that it is a hard and long process. It’s not just about the first draft, but all the re-writes. George Orwell explains the effect on the writer:

“Writing a book is a horrible, exhausting struggle, like a long bout of some painful illness. One would never undertake such a thing if one were not driven on by some demon whom one can neither resist or understand. For all one knows that demon is simply the same instinct that makes a baby squall for attention.”

So if you are not put off by Orwell’s comments and are possessed by demons, do you have a story that you are burning to write? Then forget about financial reward and write it. You’ll find it a cathartic experience. The richest reward of all comes from creating something you love.