Jane's Tips for Great Writing

Jane's Tips for Writing Great Books

Here's a few tips about writing - not just for writing Great Books - but for writing Great Anything. These tips and ideas have worked for me and they might help you out as well. Some of these tips were handed down to me by my writing mentor, Mrs M. and I've found them to be 'tried and true.' Give them a go!

Let Yourself Listen

Some wise words from Julia Cameron
(The Right to Write (Jeremy P. Tarcher/Putnam, New York, 1999))

The Great Mrs. M used to say, "Just get it down and stop fussing about!"

In her book The Right to Write, Julia Cameron gives some very good advice, practical exercises and insight into The Writing Life.

I've re-read the section about listening ... about allowing yourself to just be with your writing. She has one sentence here that I remind myself of from time to time - and it's especially relevant now with the work I'm doing about Mom. Julia says: "Writing is about getting something down, not about thinking something up."

She goes on to say that we can either think of something to write about or we can just write what we happen to be thinking about. And, most importantly, she says: "We can either demand that we write well or we can sette more comfortably into writing down what seems to want to come through us - good, bad or indifferent."

Writing about Mom is such an emotional roller-coaster alot of the time. So many feelings and thoughts tumbling over themselves like a breaking wave, wanting to come out. I cannot stop them to think, "Hmm - how shall I write this down?" I have to let them come as they will and whether the writing is fabulous or lousy, it doesn't matter.

Just get it down - listen to those thoughts and feelings - put aside thoughts of clever plots and structures for now. Let the writing flow.

Conditions of Excellence

The truth according to Ms Dorothea Brande

I've always thought that my mentor, Mrs. M, was right up there with the Queen of all Writing Mentors, Ms Dorothea Brande.

If you've never read Ms Brande's classic book, Becoming a Writer, then you must dash out and procure a copy immediately. I have to warn you that this how-to-write-creatively gem was first published in 1934 so whilst the writing may seem a bit dated, the advice it presents is as relevant today as it was then. Timeless, indeed. Good, solid, no nonsense advice from Ms Dorothea.

I've had a copy of this book by my side for years and dip into it now and then for some grounding because Ms Brande is very forthright about her advice and pulls no punches, shall we say.

One can interpret the advice within a modern context. For example, in the section called The Conditions of Excellence, she says: " … set yourself to discover if you can see any connection between a good morning’s work and the conditions of the evening before. Can you tell whether or not the good writing came after you had spent an active day, or after a quiet one?"

Of course I immediately relate this to whether I drank too much the night before and was so hung over I could not produce ‘a good morning’s work.’

Dorothea also insists that writers maintain a good daily regime. Under the heading of Dictating a Daily Regime, she writes: "Most writers flourish greatly on a simple, healthy routine with occasional time off for gaiety … If you are going in for a lifetime of writing, it stands to reason that you must learn to work without the continual use of stimulants, so find what ones you can use in moderation and what must be dropped." I think she approves of coffee … Indeed she does offer some advice on this matter:

"For Coffee Addicts: If you have an ingrained habit of putting off everything until after you have had your morning coffee, buy a thermos bottle and fill it at night. This willl thwart your wily unconscious in the neatest fashion. You will have no excuse to postpone work while you wait for your stimulant."

You see? She's thought of everything!

Being bossy

The Great Mrs. M used to say, 'I'm a bossy old tart - but I have to be sometimes.'

My writing mentor, Mrs. M, used to tell me to write about everything - even the really painful things, or those times in life that you feel may never end because they seem like bottomless wells or endless roads.

When I was going through breast cancer, it was a bit like that. Mrs. M wrote letters to me during that time and in one she said, "As my mother used to say, 'everything passes.' Hard to bear, I know. What are words? Sometimes there are no words to describe what one has to go through. The whys and wherefores are beyond us. No answers at the time. But they will come. Believe me."

She encouraged me to keep writing when I could, get the words down whenever they would come and she said, "I am bossy - but I have to be, in a gentle way, to keep you writing." The letters came most every week and would finish with a little cartoon of my cat Betsy giving out some pearls of wisdom! It was this constant encouragement to write when I could, even if it was just a little, that helped create my first book ... and she was right too. The answers did come, over time, in the writing.

I'm facing a similar time in my life as I write about my Mom. Sometimes the words flow freely because the

visits are good ones. We play cards, have a laugh, enjoy being in the moment together. Other times, it is so painful that the words hurt way too much. The process of taking them from my emotions to the page is almost more than I can do.

But we have to do it. Sometimes we need a 'bossy old tart' like Mrs. M to encourage us to keep going and if we don't have one of those, we have to boss ourselves around, get the words down, no matter how painful or how difficult. Because that's life and that's what we write about - the ups and downs, joys and sadnesses, truths and lies - and therein rests our challenge as writers. To go to those places, get it all down, go with the pain and the joy. It takes courage, determination and no small amount of backbone. But go there, do the business, ask the questions ... and the answers will come.

Telling the truth in your writing

The Great Mrs. M used to say, 'People want to read about your life - it helps them understand theirs.'

As Anne Lamott says in her fabulous book Bird by Bird (Scribe, Melbourne, 2008): "The very first thing I tell my new students on the first day of a workshop is about telling the truth. We are a species that needs and wants to understand who we are. Sheep lice do not seem to share this longing, which is one reason they write so very little. But we do. We have so much we want to say and figure out."

We have a natural curiousity about life - our own and others' - we want to know how somebody,managed to climb that mountain, or how they got through that dreadful experience. What did they do? How did they survive it?

When we read the words of others, we're looking for truth - so when you're writing, tell it like it is, let it all hang out, be truthful, share your experience honestly. When I was writing my first book Welcome to the Amazon Club I had to put alot of personal stuff out there, because an experience with cancer can be that way much of the time. There were some aspects I hesitated over. I was discussing this with one of my writing group ladies and she said, "Tell the truth. If you don't, people will know." ( "... yeah, honest, I did see a giraffe looking through the window at me while I was flying over Africa - no foolin'!!).

So there was that to consider - I didn't want to be seen as a liar, or omitting parts of the truth or making things up; but overriding that was the reason I wrote the book - to help others going through a similar experience and the only way to do that well was to tell the truth.

Virginia Woolf recommended 'a room of one's own'
The Great Mrs. M used to say: 'Any room will do and all you need is a firm writing surface - the kitchen table will suffice.'

1. I've never been able to write at the kitchen table, in spite of what Mrs. M used to say. However, I do believe in the firm writing surface and have always worked in 'a room of my own.'

2. 'A room of one's own' doesn't necessarily have to be a room. It can be a little alcove under the staircase, a tray on your knee outside on the screen porch, an old caravan out the back of the garden.

3. Wherever it is, it should be your own space for working, the place you do your writing. Whether working on the computer or writing by hand, have a space that is yours and ask those living with you (including cats and dogs) to respect your privacy and your space.

4. If you have a room, it's good to be able to close the door, keep the work inside and other people/cats/dogs (as cute as they may be!) outside. When I'm working on something, I spread papers and things about and need to feel comfortable that they will not be disturbed or looked at. Writing for me is quite a personal and private process, especially in the early stages of a work, so I need to feel I have privacy.

When the going gets tough ... the writers run for the hills.

The Great Mrs M. used to say: 'Rubbish! As a writer you must be able to write anywhere, anytime.'

1. When you go out, take the trusty 3B1 notebook with you and a good pen. Jot down things you see and hear, save them for later. You may not be working on anything specific but such gems can come in handy for writing projects.

2. If you're working on something and you get stuck, take a break. Such breaks can last anything from one hour to three months or more. Don't worry about length of time. Take as much as you need.