Man Booker Prize | The View Outside

Good evening 🙂

Wow, this is weird posting at 7.30 at night lol

Today’s class was with author Linda Grant who’s work has won the Booker prize and been nominated several times.

Linda had some great words of advice, so here are a few of my notes:

Reading is your apprenticeship to becoming a writer. Read indiscriminately, a wide variety of different books.

The thing about writing a book is that you’ve just got to get on with it!

Sometimes, the plot has to be dumped. If the characters are good then just put them somewhere else.

The first novel she wrote was just for fun. the more novels she’s written, the more like pulling teeth it’s become.

Most writers would die before they let anyone see their first draft.

Edit, revise, rewrite, until you are completely sick of it.

If a novel you’re writing just isn’t working, and you’re boring yourself, just abandon it!

She loses faith in a WIP if she has a break from it, so tends to work on one project at a time.

The book is finished when you have exhausted every possibility to make it better.

When asked what motivates her to write, she replied “A determination to write a better novel than the last one.”

This made me think about my own motivation, why do I write? I guess it’s because I love it, and to improve my skills.

Oh, and of course, there was cake involved 😉 Two mini cupcakes to be precise!

So what motivates you?

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