Welcome to another edition of my Advice for Novelists series in which editors, authors, agents and publicists answer the question:"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"
To those who ask me about the challenges of writing, I learned long ago
that I should never wait for inspiration or a good beginning. I just jump right in. I'll either cut it out or clean it up later. Years ago I heard someone say "Never edit at the point of conception." The best writing comes in revision, not creation-but you must have something to revise. I think a lot of writer's block happens when people wait for the right words. I just write. Later, I labor over the right words, and there's no block because I'm already looking at something on the screen.
--Randy Alcorn, author of the novels Deception, Deadline, Dominion and many nonfiction works. Visit him online at his website.
--Randy Alcorn, author of the novels Deception, Deadline, Dominion and many nonfiction works. Visit him online at his website.
4 comments:
Randy's such a great fiction writer. Hoping he'll add another one to follow Deception . . .
Nice advice!!! Thanks!
That's great advice. I learned to do that while writing papers in university. The perfect beginning didn't usually come until after I'd written most of the paper. Same with a story.
If you're interested in learning more about how Randy approaches writing, he is actually on the cover of the upcoming issue of Bible Study Magazine. He talks a lot about how he approaches fiction writing and talks about his study of the Bible. It is really fascinating, especially when he discusses how he feels about portraying God in fiction writing.
Also, Bible Study Magazine is giving away 40 signed copies of Randy Alorn's Heaven.
Cheers
_ryan
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