Richard Yaxley
Richard Yaxley wrote his first novel at the age of six; a tale of two mice, treachery and an elusive wedge of cheese. He now writes novels, stories, poems, plays and books for schools. His most recent work, Drink The Air, won the 2010 Queensland Premier’s Literary Award for Young Adult Fiction. Richard has been aged in his mid-twenties for some time, wishes his hair wasn’t so peppery, likes walking on Fraser Island and the beach, loves AFL (the Hawks!) and plans to one day trek the parts of Patagonia that aren’t too hard to trek.
WRITING TIPS
These tips work for me. Other writers will do their business differently. That’s fine. The world would be a boring place if we all followed the same process; nothing much new would be created.
I present to the people of the world – PEEPS!
Plan –
before you start writing. I see lots of good ideas from my students go down the Gurgler Of Unfinishment because they didn’t plan properly. I know how it goes; you have this wonderful character or place or start-point in mind, you want to write, write, write – but more often than not your great beginning will amount to zilch because the rest of the work wasn’t planned. My preference is to briefly write out the novel / play / whatever in sections, checking that they work as a whole. Sometimes I’ll swap sections around, sometimes I’ll delete or replace them, often I’ll change the plan mid-writing – but I’ll always have an idea about where I’m going and what I’m going to say.
Every –
word counts and this is really about your pride and attitude as a writer. I edit constantly. For example, let’s say on Sunday I write 500 words of a novel. On Monday I will review and edit that 500 words, then maybe write another 500. On Tuesday I will scan through Sunday’s words, review and edit Monday’s 500 then write some more – and on it goes. In other words, I am constantly checking. When the whole thing is finished, I put it away for a while – maybe a month, maybe two – then go back to give it a really good, tough, let’s-get-ruthless edit. This is my favourite time in writing; the shaping and pruning of the ragged bush.
Endings –
need to be known early. This point relates to planning. Of course it is natural that, as you write, some changes to your original plan may be made. However, I am a firm believer in getting the ending right at the start. My usual way of operating, particularly for longer pieces such as novels or plays, is to write the opening chapter then write the closing chapter – the ending. That way, I always have a destination to drive towards, and there’s less risk of getting off-track. It’s like going for a drive or a really long walk; one of the reasons you get there is because you know where you’re going. If you don’t know where you’re going, then you won’t know when you’ve arrived. If that makes sense …
Persist –
People often say to me; oh, you must be creative. I might be, I might not – but I am persistent. Once I start a project, I make time and space to finish it. Otherwise, why start in the first place? How do you make time? By finishing off the things you have to do first – then sticking to your goal of writing for however long you want.
Persistence is also about good planning. One tip that I was given years ago was this: never leave your writing for the day if you are stuck. Always leave it when you know what’s coming next. That way, you’ll always have something to say. It’s a great tip, and it’s helped me a lot over (too many) years.
Show –
someone your work. Someone you trust enough to give you proper, relevant feedback. Just as you don’t want someone who’s going to be super-critical because that’s their nature, nor do you want someone going all cooey-gooey over your work because they’re afraid of offending you. Yes, we write for ourselves, of course we do, but writing is an art-form and part of the deal when you create art is to share it.
That’s it for now. Above all, enjoy writing. We are children for a number of years, young adults for a number of years, adults for a number of years, middle-aged for a number of years, old for a number of years – but, barring biological intervention, we can write for the entirety of our lives. And if you’re anything like me, you will. Writing sustains me; like food, like water, like love. I hope it can do the same for you.
Find out more at http://richardwyaxley.wordpress.com/.
