WRITING TIPS WITH AUTHOR DAWN MEREDITH

Hi Everyone!

I have been writing professionally since 2000, with 14 books published to date, plus numerous articles, poems, non-fiction short pieces etc for the trade market. I've also conducted writing workshops for kids and adults in almost every state in Australia and attended many conventions and workshops myself as well as doing online courses with James Patterson and Kim Wilkins. (always learning!). I've won a couple of small awards in the book writing industry and been awarded a May Gibbs Trust Fellowship, but that's not what's important here. It's the METHODS of writing, of snatching your ideas and getting them down that's important. So, I thought I'd pop in a few tips I have found useful over the years on this page. If you have comments or queries you can contact me here: dawnmeredith1@gmail.com

Getting published may not be your goal, but improving your writing should always be top of your list. There are so many ways to do this! And every published author has their own methods. Here are a few that have helped me:

1. Record your random thoughts. I use my phone, as physically writing can be too slow and sometimes late at night I have cool ideas while I'm in bed, (trying in vain to fall asleep) and am too tired to turn on the light. Read the next point to find out what I do with those sound files! You could also use notebooks, or scraps of paper (I tried both) but keeping track is difficult. How do you find some small gem you wrote in notebook 13? Or was it 18?

2. Dragon Dictation software. A must! When I'm on a roll I can trap 10,000 words in a day, if I don't have to type every single one of them. I do this by speaking into a headset which then transcribes what I'm saying onto the screen. Dragon costs money, but is so worth it. I can also put the mic of my headset right up against my phone speaker and play a phone recording and it will type that up too! It's not perfect. The computer has to be trained to recognise your phrasing and articulation, (the program will show you how to do that), but it's pretty accurate. Make sure you check and edit though, because occasionally it makes hilarious mistakes!

3. Natural Reader software (from Naturalsoft) This program reads your work back to you, in a much less robotic voice than the standard reader that comes with microsoft Word. I find this invaluable, as after a while your brain ceases to see mistakes in your work. Hearing someone else read it uses a different part of the brain and makes it easier to hear problems that need fixing.

4. Pantser or planner? I started out as a 'pantser', (flying by the seat of your pants) but being so disorganised and random didn't work for me. Being subject to the whims of Lady Inspiration was both at times exhilarating and despairing. So I swung the opposite way and became TOO much of a planner, and that was exhausting! You will find your own balance, however a certain amount of organisation is helpful. I now use a whiteboard to plan out my basic plot (six stage plot structure designed by screen writer Michael Hauge) and index cards for writing down scene ideas, which I blutac to the wall and can move around as needed. I also keep big A4 notebooks complete with images of what my characters kinda look like, historical and cultural stuff for the world I am creating and more. It takes me a minimum of 5 months to plan a novel. The the last two novels were written in 5-6 months because of the planning, but inspiration for a story can slowly build over years, whilst you're working on other things, so there's no set rule.

5. Professional editing. Initially, I have test readers who read my work and provide feedback. Some of them read the raw stuff straight from my brain and others prefer to read the whole first draft when it's done. When I've gone as far as I can with that I pay for a professional to read and sometimes do a structural edit for me before submitting to a publisher. This is absolutely essential if you are planning to self publish! (some of my books are self published). There is nothing worse than opening the box of your newly arrived books and seeing a glaring error on the back cover. Argh! Or reading a complaint on Goodreads about some silly errors in your book once it is already 'out there.' Professional editors don't stroke your ego. They are paid to give it to you straight. It's difficult at times to hear it, because you pour your heart and soul into your work, but you have to grow a thick skin if you want to be a published author, or even to improve your autobiography that only your family will read. Being the best writer you can be is worth it.

6. Be an observer of humankind. Jot down your observations, in a way you can access them later, of course! Humans are intriguing; their motivations and behaviours are fascinating, that's why we keep buying books and borrowing from the library. You never know when some snippet you hear on the train or in a queue will find its way into your writing!

7. There are lots more in depth tips here: writing tips