December 13, 2024 • 21 mins
In this final episode of 2024, I discuss all of the best writing tips I've come across in the past year, as well as the most helpful things I've learned.
In particular, I dive into writing short stories and getting them published, amazing pieces of wisdom from legendary author Ian Rankin, and the most important thing I learned over the past 12 months.
Here are some useful links I referred to in the ep.
https://thegrinder.diabolicalplots.com/
https://richiebilling.com/writing-tools/list-of-fantasy-magazines
Thank you as always for listening and for your fantastic support. I sincerely appreciate it and can't wait to create more helpful things for you in 2025!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
(00:10):
Hello and welcome to the FantasyWriters Tool Shed.
I'm your host, Richie Belling, and in this episode I'm flying
solo for the final time in 2024.Yes, it's just me and you, dear
listener, as we look back on theyear and explore some of the
best writing tips that I've picked up over the past 12
(00:31):
months. Before we dive in, I just want
to take a moment to thank each and everyone of you.
Your support has been absolutelyincredible.
This year we hit an amazing milestone, which was 10,000
followers, which is never believed that was even possible
to me us. So thank you very much each and
every one of you. According to Spotify, the Fancy
(00:51):
Races Tour Shadows also been streamed in 70 different
countries in 2024. That's pretty amazing,
especially considering that mostpeople from my country can't
understand my accent. So fair play to you in the 69
other countries. It's humbling honestly and it
(01:11):
blows my mind every time. So from the bottom of my heart,
thank you very much. Good news is the show will be
back in January 2025 with some fantastic guests including
award-winning and best selling authors.
Lots to look forward to, so do stay tuned and if you're a new
listener, hit the follow or subscribe button so you don't
(01:33):
miss anything. If you're itching for more
resources beyond the podcast, you do have a Patreon page that
you can check out. It's packed with goodies,
writing classes on well buildingone example, and there's another
class on character creation and we've got loads of resources and
a complete book on writing fantasy as well.
(01:55):
There's something for everyone and tears available for everyone
as well. The link to find out more about
that is in the description. And that is about it for the
housekeeping. Time to get on with today's
show. I've got loads of great stuff
lined up for you. Basically a review of the best
things that I have learned aboutwriting this year.
(02:17):
And in particular, we're going to look at short stories,
something I struggle with a lot.So I've been making a big effort
to learn more about it. And I have a few more gems of
wisdom from a talk by the legendary Ian Rankin and one of
my favourite authors. And I share the single most
important thing that I've learned this year.
(02:38):
So without further ado, let's get started.
So short stories, if you like me, you might find them a bit
tricky. For the longest time I struggled
to write something contained andfinite in a few 1000 words.
Basically, my attempts often felt like the beginnings of
(03:00):
novels instead of standalone tales.
So that was always my struggle. And I have written a lot of
short stories. I've had been lucky enough to
get a few published and I just wanted to do more of it because
it's something I stopped doing for a good few years.
And I've as a 10s and novels andI really enjoy short of fiction
(03:21):
and also they don't take as longto do as novels.
So yeah, there's a lot to be said for a short story, but I've
never been happy with what I produce.
So this year I decided to tacklethe challenge head on.
First of all, decided to write more short stories, tried
different formats and one of thebiggest sources of ideas,
(03:46):
learning and inspiration and wasa panel, A fantasy con in
October and which featured a lotof brilliant short story writers
and short story publishers as well.
And two individuals in particular I took a lot from,
and they're called Dan Coxon andAndrew Hook.
Between them, they've had hundreds of short stories
(04:08):
published. And lucky for all of us, I took
some notes. So these are some of the best
tips, but they've shared to do with writing short stories.
Firstly, when you're thinking ofan idea for a short story,
because one of my challenges is is finding that contained
moment. So to help with this, they
(04:30):
suggest focus on moments like a character, like key moments in a
character's life. And a short story doesn't have
to solve every problem in that character's life.
It can 0IN on a small conflict or 10 points within a larger
unresolved issue. So that's good to know as well.
Second tip, endings don't have to be happy.
(04:53):
It's OK if things don't get go the protagonist's way.
And sometimes the most impactfulstories are the ones that
challenge our expectations as reads.
So that's something to keep in mind.
This is one that I think a lot of us appreciate with short
stories, and that is that you need to hook your reader
(05:14):
immediately. And one of the best ways to do
this is by dropping intriguing details early on that provoked
questions within the reader. And this curiosity and the panel
said is probably one of the mostpowerful tools.
Another tip was to leave something behind, and this is
(05:36):
what they said makes a short story a good story and a
brilliant story. And by leaving something behind,
they mean that the the story should stick with the reader
once they've finished reading. This could be an unforgettable
predicament so such as one of Stephen King's mad ones, or it
(05:56):
could be an opening the conclusion that sparks a bit of
thought. So things like that, where the
reader is going to think about the story after they finished it
and they've left the page. Now, something that they also
recommended, which is something I've been experimenting with, is
structure. And I'm guessing given that
they've written hundreds and hundreds of short stories,
(06:17):
structure is definitely one thathas popped up in their
considerations. And they said they've had a lot
of good success with it and there are a lot of fun to play
around with as well. So by structure and do you mean
like telling your story in a different style?
So, for example, a shopping listor a series of reviews,
(06:37):
Apparently someone's doing a series of Amazon reviews which
tell a short story or a questionnaire about a character,
for example. One of the good things about
these types of stories is that encourages the reader to fill in
the gaps, that prompts them to engage more with the story, to
think more about what could be happening, and it can actually
(06:58):
lead to a more satisfying read. So that is a good thing to
experiment with. I've written a story recently
which is A to do list of a goblin Chieftain, which was
quite an interesting one. And the way I approached that,
it was over A7 day period and just having a series of subplots
(07:19):
that just run through and each day they develop mixed in with
some sort of quirky day-to-day activities as well.
Another fantastic tip was to describe through action.
So when painting characters and telling the reader what they
like and what they look like, you should show who they are
through the likes of body language and behaviour, not just
(07:41):
through a visual description of their appearance.
It's a tricky thing to do, but alot of great writers do it.
And I recently read a short story by Gene Wolf and he was
describing characters like this in a fantastic way.
Like for example, I think the character in that story and she
was crouching down and then she stood up and as she stood up,
(08:01):
the point of view character noticed these different details
about her. And that was a really
interesting way to convey what would otherwise be quite forced
and mundane detail. And I do have one more tip to
add to this list, and this is one of my own, and it's a bit of
an obvious one, and that is to read as many short stories as
(08:24):
possible. After that parallel discussion,
I ended up going to the Dealer'sRoom and found an absolute mound
of old short story anthologies from the Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction. And they were all from the 80s
and 90s and featured writers like Gene Wolf, as I mentioned.
And when you read the short stories, it's really important
(08:45):
to go back and look at what the author did, like, how did the
structure something? How did the introduce the
character? How did they build the suspense?
How did they create the intrigue?
Make notes about these things and try out the techniques
yourself. And this is a tip I'm going to
come back to in a little while, but yeah, it's fantastic way to
(09:07):
learn. So if you are looking for places
to submit stories and one that consistently came up with
Submission Grinder, I've heard of it.
I never used it so I checked it out afterwards and it's quite a
rudimentary looking tool, but itis absolutely fantastic.
It's kept up to date, it's free,and you get publishers for all
(09:29):
types of books and stories and genres and everything in
between. So that's just a free online
tool. Google Submission Grinder and
you'll be able to check that out.
I'd also recommend checking out Geo Trope, which is DUOTROPE.
It's a paid service. It is very cheap, so it is worth
(09:51):
paying for. You can use it to search for
publishers for short stories in most the same way as Submission
Grinder. Again, everything is kept up to
date and fresh. I do feel like it's a little bit
more user friendly than Submission Grinder.
And you can also use it for novels and novellas and literary
agents as well. So it's, it double s up, well
more than double s up on a few different things.
(10:13):
So I do recommend checking that out.
And as a third option, and you can also check out the list of
short story publishers on my ownwebsite.
I've updated it recently. There are about 150 publishers
on there. And I also send interesting
calls for submissions in my monthly newsletter for writers.
So if you'd like to stay in the loop and get the lowdown on
(10:35):
them, new calls for submissions,just click the link in the
description. So that's short stories.
Let's take a quick break and then we'll dive into lessons
from Ian Rankin. Thank you for listening to the
Fantasy Writers Tool Shed. If you'd like to join our
writing community on Discord andget access to fantasy writing
classes and books on Patreon, check the links in the
(10:58):
description. And if you don't want to miss
any future episodes, be sure to follow or subscribe.
And to support the show, leave aquick rating on Spotify or
iTunes and share this episode onsocial media or with anyone who
you think may be interested. Thank you very much for
listening. Welcome back.
(11:19):
Let's take a look at some advicefrom Ian Rankin.
So if you don't know Ian Rankin and he's a best selling crime
novelist from Scotland and he created a character called
Detective Inspector John Rebus, who's a bit of a hot head and
bit of a drunken police detective, but just felt a lot
(11:39):
of the stereotypes. But Rankin does write him very
well. He's a fantastic writer.
Stories are really interesting and there's a really good
progression and floater the series.
And he was doing a tour not longago to promote his new book
Midnight and Blue, where Rebus actually end up in prison.
(12:01):
I'm not that far ahead in the series, so I didn't engage too
much with that side of it, but ranking himself as an absolute
gold mine of writing wisdom and he's so down to earth and open
about how he writes, where he finds his inspiration and how he
learns as well. So I talk quite a lot away from
it as a writer. And the tips that I've passed on
(12:25):
to others, people have found them really interested and
useful as well, and they're quite broad.
So the first one is to start with a theme, and this is a bit
of a controversial 1 because theme is a difficult concept for
a lot of writers. It's one I struggle with.
I do not struggle with it anywhere near as much as it did
because I finally managed to find a person who could explain
(12:50):
what scene is and how it actually works within a book.
And that person was Layhos Eagree and he wrote a book
called The Art of Dramatic Writing.
He was more of a playwright and but his grasp of storytelling
was absolutely phenomenal and his book is well worth checking
out. But I agree, he, like Ian Rankin
(13:13):
said, the theme was the startingpoint.
It was basically the foundation of the the story and the whole
reason why you're writing there.And Rankin essentially suggests
to begin with this answer, pick something that resonates with
you. It's maybe a topic that you've
been pondering about or you've noticed a lot in the media, and
(13:36):
he essentially uses that as a jumping off point and to build
your plot and the characters around it.
He was quite keen to say that hedoesn't force characters into
these different types of stories.
He sees what would work and who would work for the type of story
that he wants to tell. So that's something to bear in
(13:59):
mind. One of my favorite tips that
Rankin shared on the night was to write what you're interested
in, which is tied to the point above.
Now I do see a quite common thing in authors that they see
what types of books are popular and a selling and a winning
awards and then they make a decision to pivot in that
(14:20):
direction. Now they don't know.
They may not know anything aboutit.
For example, romantic has been all the rage for the last few
years and if you're not into that genre, you've never read
any books. You might find it very difficult
to write something that pleases fans of the sub genre, so if you
(14:41):
don't care about it, you're going to find a bit of a chore.
Like I did an experiment this year.
I wrote a story in a genre that I've never written before, but
it was a popular 1 and it took me months to finish because I
couldn't motivate motivate myself to do it essentially.
In contrast, arose in novella ina few months because I was so
(15:04):
passionate about the subject matter and as a result, I can't
wait to share it with the world.So I just powered through edits
and everything. So it's enthusiasm for a subject
that is so important and you'll create something better and that
enthusiasm will shine through and that's what really love.
Rankin also said to embrace pansing more.
(15:27):
Even though he's a crime writer and you think, oh, crime stories
are quite intricately told. And as a result, the writer
should really know everything about him.
He's the complete opposite of that.
He, he believes that you don't have to know every detail when
you start. I mean, if he gave the example
of if you write in a closed roomin a mystery, you don't even
(15:49):
know need to know how it happened at the start.
And rather you can let the storyunfold as you write it and you
discover it and solve the crime as you're moving forward with
your writing. And it can be a bit of a scary
prospect to do that, especially if you decide to pursue a bit of
(16:11):
a difficult plot. But it can be a very liberating
approach as well. And you essentially, you don't
worry about the details, you just start writing and you
figure things out as you go along.
And related to this was another great tip, which is that first
drafter, adjust for discovery. Don't get bogged down by
unanswered questions or vague details.
(16:34):
Rankin just makes notes for himself.
And when he's at it and he comesback to them, he just keeps
pushing until the first draft isdone.
And then once it's done, you cango back and fix it all.
And this is quite an interestingthing that he said for me,
because I know a lot of people start with research first, but
Rankin actually starts researching journey, editing
(16:57):
phase because he's now written the story.
He then needs to know what he needs to research.
And I do find that's a brilliantly efficient way to
write. And I mean, if you read a lot of
Rankin stories, they're quite laden with like real detail that
has been researched. But he said most of the time you
(17:18):
just need to learn a few things about it and sprinkle a few
details in, and that is enough to make you sound like an
expert. And the main aim of this is to
be economical about your research, economical about your
time, and you just get on with the rain, which is the most
important thing. Another nice tip was he put a
lot of emphasis on speaking dialogue aloud specifically, and
(17:42):
this is one of the best ways to ensure that it sounds natural
and fits different characters, especially if you're trying
accents. And the last tip, which is 1.
I did say I was going to come back to earlier on, which was to
learn by reading. And Ian Rankin has apparently
never been on a creative writingclass, nor has he been on any
(18:03):
courses. He said the main way he learns
is by reading other authors. And if he finds a book that he
loves, he'll read it twice, onceas a reader and then again as a
writer. And in that second time, he
dissects and works out what thatwriter has done to achieve that
brilliance. So it's a bit like learning from
(18:24):
short stories, just analyzing and dissecting the the inner
workings of the writer. And this is honestly one of the
best ways to learn. Now for my final tip of the day.
And this is the biggest lesson that I've learned in 2024.
And it is. But you can't do it all along.
We might start off as solitary beings with our pen, paper,
(18:47):
laptop or whatever, but there comes a point where you hit a
bit of a wall on your own and the only way to overcome it is
to get a bit of a boost so that you can climb to the other side.
This is something I've known fora while.
It's one of the biggest hurdles of Ryan.
So when I first started writing,and that's why I set up our
writing community. But this year I've come to
appreciate its true value and meaning.
(19:08):
There have been plenty tough moments in 2024 where I felt
like giving up, but I decided tomake changes.
I've reached out to people and tried my best to build a team
and a network of support. And then I've gone at it again
and this time I've. I'm feeling a lot better about
things. Spoken to and met so many
different writers over the past year.
(19:30):
You've told me how much they've benefited from working with
other writers as well. Be a beta reading, critique
groups, open writing platforms where you can share your stories
and get feedback and even just chatting with like minded
people. Some people, they live isolated
lives, they live in remote places, they might not speak to
people very often. And community is so important,
(19:52):
especially when you can connect all the things that you love.
Taking meaningful steps forward as a writer often requires the
help of others. Whether it's feedback from
fellow writers, collaboration with editors and artists, or
simply being part of a supportive community, the key is
to engage with people. Who can help you grow?
(20:14):
And it's this growth that's vital Growth in our confidence,
growth in our abilities, growth in our understanding of the
craft. With all of these combining
together, there's literally nothing to stop you from
achieving your hopes and dreams.So if you're listening to this
and you want to become part of acommunity of writers that can
help and support you grow, just click the link in the
(20:36):
description. The 600 of us now, the dozens of
people meeting every week in small critique groups.
There's even more people swapping stories, discussing
ideas in the different threads that we have.
So if you're looking for your own people, click the link in
the description. Come and say hello.
And that is a wrap for this episode and for 2024 as well.
(21:00):
Thank you again for being part of this incredible journey.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave
a review, or share it with a fellow writer.
And as always, check out our Patreon page.
If you want to dive deeper into the craft of fantasy writing is
to a fantastic year ahead. Keep on scribbling, keep on
dreaming, and I'll see you in 2025.
Hello and welcome to the FantasyWriters Tool Shed.
I'm your host, Richie Belling, and in this episode I'm flying
solo for the final time in 2024.Yes, it's just me and you, dear
listener, as we look back on theyear and explore some of the
best writing tips that I've picked up over the past 12
(00:31):
months. Before we dive in, I just want
to take a moment to thank each and everyone of you.
Your support has been absolutelyincredible.
This year we hit an amazing milestone, which was 10,000
followers, which is never believed that was even possible
to me us. So thank you very much each and
every one of you. According to Spotify, the Fancy
(00:51):
Races Tour Shadows also been streamed in 70 different
countries in 2024. That's pretty amazing,
especially considering that mostpeople from my country can't
understand my accent. So fair play to you in the 69
other countries. It's humbling honestly and it
(01:11):
blows my mind every time. So from the bottom of my heart,
thank you very much. Good news is the show will be
back in January 2025 with some fantastic guests including
award-winning and best selling authors.
Lots to look forward to, so do stay tuned and if you're a new
listener, hit the follow or subscribe button so you don't
(01:33):
miss anything. If you're itching for more
resources beyond the podcast, you do have a Patreon page that
you can check out. It's packed with goodies,
writing classes on well buildingone example, and there's another
class on character creation and we've got loads of resources and
a complete book on writing fantasy as well.
(01:55):
There's something for everyone and tears available for everyone
as well. The link to find out more about
that is in the description. And that is about it for the
housekeeping. Time to get on with today's
show. I've got loads of great stuff
lined up for you. Basically a review of the best
things that I have learned aboutwriting this year.
(02:17):
And in particular, we're going to look at short stories,
something I struggle with a lot.So I've been making a big effort
to learn more about it. And I have a few more gems of
wisdom from a talk by the legendary Ian Rankin and one of
my favourite authors. And I share the single most
important thing that I've learned this year.
(02:38):
So without further ado, let's get started.
So short stories, if you like me, you might find them a bit
tricky. For the longest time I struggled
to write something contained andfinite in a few 1000 words.
Basically, my attempts often felt like the beginnings of
(03:00):
novels instead of standalone tales.
So that was always my struggle. And I have written a lot of
short stories. I've had been lucky enough to
get a few published and I just wanted to do more of it because
it's something I stopped doing for a good few years.
And I've as a 10s and novels andI really enjoy short of fiction
(03:21):
and also they don't take as longto do as novels.
So yeah, there's a lot to be said for a short story, but I've
never been happy with what I produce.
So this year I decided to tacklethe challenge head on.
First of all, decided to write more short stories, tried
different formats and one of thebiggest sources of ideas,
(03:46):
learning and inspiration and wasa panel, A fantasy con in
October and which featured a lotof brilliant short story writers
and short story publishers as well.
And two individuals in particular I took a lot from,
and they're called Dan Coxon andAndrew Hook.
Between them, they've had hundreds of short stories
(04:08):
published. And lucky for all of us, I took
some notes. So these are some of the best
tips, but they've shared to do with writing short stories.
Firstly, when you're thinking ofan idea for a short story,
because one of my challenges is is finding that contained
moment. So to help with this, they
(04:30):
suggest focus on moments like a character, like key moments in a
character's life. And a short story doesn't have
to solve every problem in that character's life.
It can 0IN on a small conflict or 10 points within a larger
unresolved issue. So that's good to know as well.
Second tip, endings don't have to be happy.
(04:53):
It's OK if things don't get go the protagonist's way.
And sometimes the most impactfulstories are the ones that
challenge our expectations as reads.
So that's something to keep in mind.
This is one that I think a lot of us appreciate with short
stories, and that is that you need to hook your reader
(05:14):
immediately. And one of the best ways to do
this is by dropping intriguing details early on that provoked
questions within the reader. And this curiosity and the panel
said is probably one of the mostpowerful tools.
Another tip was to leave something behind, and this is
(05:36):
what they said makes a short story a good story and a
brilliant story. And by leaving something behind,
they mean that the the story should stick with the reader
once they've finished reading. This could be an unforgettable
predicament so such as one of Stephen King's mad ones, or it
(05:56):
could be an opening the conclusion that sparks a bit of
thought. So things like that, where the
reader is going to think about the story after they finished it
and they've left the page. Now, something that they also
recommended, which is something I've been experimenting with, is
structure. And I'm guessing given that
they've written hundreds and hundreds of short stories,
(06:17):
structure is definitely one thathas popped up in their
considerations. And they said they've had a lot
of good success with it and there are a lot of fun to play
around with as well. So by structure and do you mean
like telling your story in a different style?
So, for example, a shopping listor a series of reviews,
(06:37):
Apparently someone's doing a series of Amazon reviews which
tell a short story or a questionnaire about a character,
for example. One of the good things about
these types of stories is that encourages the reader to fill in
the gaps, that prompts them to engage more with the story, to
think more about what could be happening, and it can actually
(06:58):
lead to a more satisfying read. So that is a good thing to
experiment with. I've written a story recently
which is A to do list of a goblin Chieftain, which was
quite an interesting one. And the way I approached that,
it was over A7 day period and just having a series of subplots
(07:19):
that just run through and each day they develop mixed in with
some sort of quirky day-to-day activities as well.
Another fantastic tip was to describe through action.
So when painting characters and telling the reader what they
like and what they look like, you should show who they are
through the likes of body language and behaviour, not just
(07:41):
through a visual description of their appearance.
It's a tricky thing to do, but alot of great writers do it.
And I recently read a short story by Gene Wolf and he was
describing characters like this in a fantastic way.
Like for example, I think the character in that story and she
was crouching down and then she stood up and as she stood up,
(08:01):
the point of view character noticed these different details
about her. And that was a really
interesting way to convey what would otherwise be quite forced
and mundane detail. And I do have one more tip to
add to this list, and this is one of my own, and it's a bit of
an obvious one, and that is to read as many short stories as
(08:24):
possible. After that parallel discussion,
I ended up going to the Dealer'sRoom and found an absolute mound
of old short story anthologies from the Magazine of Fantasy and
Science Fiction. And they were all from the 80s
and 90s and featured writers like Gene Wolf, as I mentioned.
And when you read the short stories, it's really important
(08:45):
to go back and look at what the author did, like, how did the
structure something? How did the introduce the
character? How did they build the suspense?
How did they create the intrigue?
Make notes about these things and try out the techniques
yourself. And this is a tip I'm going to
come back to in a little while, but yeah, it's fantastic way to
(09:07):
learn. So if you are looking for places
to submit stories and one that consistently came up with
Submission Grinder, I've heard of it.
I never used it so I checked it out afterwards and it's quite a
rudimentary looking tool, but itis absolutely fantastic.
It's kept up to date, it's free,and you get publishers for all
(09:29):
types of books and stories and genres and everything in
between. So that's just a free online
tool. Google Submission Grinder and
you'll be able to check that out.
I'd also recommend checking out Geo Trope, which is DUOTROPE.
It's a paid service. It is very cheap, so it is worth
(09:51):
paying for. You can use it to search for
publishers for short stories in most the same way as Submission
Grinder. Again, everything is kept up to
date and fresh. I do feel like it's a little bit
more user friendly than Submission Grinder.
And you can also use it for novels and novellas and literary
agents as well. So it's, it double s up, well
more than double s up on a few different things.
(10:13):
So I do recommend checking that out.
And as a third option, and you can also check out the list of
short story publishers on my ownwebsite.
I've updated it recently. There are about 150 publishers
on there. And I also send interesting
calls for submissions in my monthly newsletter for writers.
So if you'd like to stay in the loop and get the lowdown on
(10:35):
them, new calls for submissions,just click the link in the
description. So that's short stories.
Let's take a quick break and then we'll dive into lessons
from Ian Rankin. Thank you for listening to the
Fantasy Writers Tool Shed. If you'd like to join our
writing community on Discord andget access to fantasy writing
classes and books on Patreon, check the links in the
(10:58):
description. And if you don't want to miss
any future episodes, be sure to follow or subscribe.
And to support the show, leave aquick rating on Spotify or
iTunes and share this episode onsocial media or with anyone who
you think may be interested. Thank you very much for
listening. Welcome back.
(11:19):
Let's take a look at some advicefrom Ian Rankin.
So if you don't know Ian Rankin and he's a best selling crime
novelist from Scotland and he created a character called
Detective Inspector John Rebus, who's a bit of a hot head and
bit of a drunken police detective, but just felt a lot
(11:39):
of the stereotypes. But Rankin does write him very
well. He's a fantastic writer.
Stories are really interesting and there's a really good
progression and floater the series.
And he was doing a tour not longago to promote his new book
Midnight and Blue, where Rebus actually end up in prison.
(12:01):
I'm not that far ahead in the series, so I didn't engage too
much with that side of it, but ranking himself as an absolute
gold mine of writing wisdom and he's so down to earth and open
about how he writes, where he finds his inspiration and how he
learns as well. So I talk quite a lot away from
it as a writer. And the tips that I've passed on
(12:25):
to others, people have found them really interested and
useful as well, and they're quite broad.
So the first one is to start with a theme, and this is a bit
of a controversial 1 because theme is a difficult concept for
a lot of writers. It's one I struggle with.
I do not struggle with it anywhere near as much as it did
because I finally managed to find a person who could explain
(12:50):
what scene is and how it actually works within a book.
And that person was Layhos Eagree and he wrote a book
called The Art of Dramatic Writing.
He was more of a playwright and but his grasp of storytelling
was absolutely phenomenal and his book is well worth checking
out. But I agree, he, like Ian Rankin
(13:13):
said, the theme was the startingpoint.
It was basically the foundation of the the story and the whole
reason why you're writing there.And Rankin essentially suggests
to begin with this answer, pick something that resonates with
you. It's maybe a topic that you've
been pondering about or you've noticed a lot in the media, and
(13:36):
he essentially uses that as a jumping off point and to build
your plot and the characters around it.
He was quite keen to say that hedoesn't force characters into
these different types of stories.
He sees what would work and who would work for the type of story
that he wants to tell. So that's something to bear in
(13:59):
mind. One of my favorite tips that
Rankin shared on the night was to write what you're interested
in, which is tied to the point above.
Now I do see a quite common thing in authors that they see
what types of books are popular and a selling and a winning
awards and then they make a decision to pivot in that
(14:20):
direction. Now they don't know.
They may not know anything aboutit.
For example, romantic has been all the rage for the last few
years and if you're not into that genre, you've never read
any books. You might find it very difficult
to write something that pleases fans of the sub genre, so if you
(14:41):
don't care about it, you're going to find a bit of a chore.
Like I did an experiment this year.
I wrote a story in a genre that I've never written before, but
it was a popular 1 and it took me months to finish because I
couldn't motivate motivate myself to do it essentially.
In contrast, arose in novella ina few months because I was so
(15:04):
passionate about the subject matter and as a result, I can't
wait to share it with the world.So I just powered through edits
and everything. So it's enthusiasm for a subject
that is so important and you'll create something better and that
enthusiasm will shine through and that's what really love.
Rankin also said to embrace pansing more.
(15:27):
Even though he's a crime writer and you think, oh, crime stories
are quite intricately told. And as a result, the writer
should really know everything about him.
He's the complete opposite of that.
He, he believes that you don't have to know every detail when
you start. I mean, if he gave the example
of if you write in a closed roomin a mystery, you don't even
(15:49):
know need to know how it happened at the start.
And rather you can let the storyunfold as you write it and you
discover it and solve the crime as you're moving forward with
your writing. And it can be a bit of a scary
prospect to do that, especially if you decide to pursue a bit of
(16:11):
a difficult plot. But it can be a very liberating
approach as well. And you essentially, you don't
worry about the details, you just start writing and you
figure things out as you go along.
And related to this was another great tip, which is that first
drafter, adjust for discovery. Don't get bogged down by
unanswered questions or vague details.
(16:34):
Rankin just makes notes for himself.
And when he's at it and he comesback to them, he just keeps
pushing until the first draft isdone.
And then once it's done, you cango back and fix it all.
And this is quite an interestingthing that he said for me,
because I know a lot of people start with research first, but
Rankin actually starts researching journey, editing
(16:57):
phase because he's now written the story.
He then needs to know what he needs to research.
And I do find that's a brilliantly efficient way to
write. And I mean, if you read a lot of
Rankin stories, they're quite laden with like real detail that
has been researched. But he said most of the time you
(17:18):
just need to learn a few things about it and sprinkle a few
details in, and that is enough to make you sound like an
expert. And the main aim of this is to
be economical about your research, economical about your
time, and you just get on with the rain, which is the most
important thing. Another nice tip was he put a
lot of emphasis on speaking dialogue aloud specifically, and
(17:42):
this is one of the best ways to ensure that it sounds natural
and fits different characters, especially if you're trying
accents. And the last tip, which is 1.
I did say I was going to come back to earlier on, which was to
learn by reading. And Ian Rankin has apparently
never been on a creative writingclass, nor has he been on any
(18:03):
courses. He said the main way he learns
is by reading other authors. And if he finds a book that he
loves, he'll read it twice, onceas a reader and then again as a
writer. And in that second time, he
dissects and works out what thatwriter has done to achieve that
brilliance. So it's a bit like learning from
(18:24):
short stories, just analyzing and dissecting the the inner
workings of the writer. And this is honestly one of the
best ways to learn. Now for my final tip of the day.
And this is the biggest lesson that I've learned in 2024.
And it is. But you can't do it all along.
We might start off as solitary beings with our pen, paper,
(18:47):
laptop or whatever, but there comes a point where you hit a
bit of a wall on your own and the only way to overcome it is
to get a bit of a boost so that you can climb to the other side.
This is something I've known fora while.
It's one of the biggest hurdles of Ryan.
So when I first started writing,and that's why I set up our
writing community. But this year I've come to
appreciate its true value and meaning.
(19:08):
There have been plenty tough moments in 2024 where I felt
like giving up, but I decided tomake changes.
I've reached out to people and tried my best to build a team
and a network of support. And then I've gone at it again
and this time I've. I'm feeling a lot better about
things. Spoken to and met so many
different writers over the past year.
(19:30):
You've told me how much they've benefited from working with
other writers as well. Be a beta reading, critique
groups, open writing platforms where you can share your stories
and get feedback and even just chatting with like minded
people. Some people, they live isolated
lives, they live in remote places, they might not speak to
people very often. And community is so important,
(19:52):
especially when you can connect all the things that you love.
Taking meaningful steps forward as a writer often requires the
help of others. Whether it's feedback from
fellow writers, collaboration with editors and artists, or
simply being part of a supportive community, the key is
to engage with people. Who can help you grow?
(20:14):
And it's this growth that's vital Growth in our confidence,
growth in our abilities, growth in our understanding of the
craft. With all of these combining
together, there's literally nothing to stop you from
achieving your hopes and dreams.So if you're listening to this
and you want to become part of acommunity of writers that can
help and support you grow, just click the link in the
(20:36):
description. The 600 of us now, the dozens of
people meeting every week in small critique groups.
There's even more people swapping stories, discussing
ideas in the different threads that we have.
So if you're looking for your own people, click the link in
the description. Come and say hello.
And that is a wrap for this episode and for 2024 as well.
(21:00):
Thank you again for being part of this incredible journey.
If you enjoyed today's episode, don't forget to subscribe, leave
a review, or share it with a fellow writer.
And as always, check out our Patreon page.
If you want to dive deeper into the craft of fantasy writing is
to a fantastic year ahead. Keep on scribbling, keep on
dreaming, and I'll see you in 2025.
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