Writing Tips

• You might like to keep a writer’s journal in which to jot down ideas for stories, descriptions of things that have happened to you, photographs, postcards or newspaper clippings that might inspire you to write a story one day – even a bus ticket or a note from your best friend to bring a particular memory back.

Here is a page from a friend's holiday journal. It's made up of photos, tickets, packaging and stamps collected during a stay in New York (Amanda Lillywhite)

• Writing a diary is also a useful exercise – you can go into as much or as little detail as you like. It’s also very interesting to look back on, later.
  
  
• I find it very helpful to imagine the scene I’m writing as though it were a film and try to visualise the action happening on a screen in front of me. Even better than a film, though, a writer can describe how the characters are feeling, what they can taste and smell, not merely what they see and hear.
  
  
• If you are writing in the first person (‘I did this or that’), try to put yourself in your main character’s shoes. If she is in a particular place, go there too. What would she see out of this window? Could she really overhear that conversation? What about timing? How long would it take her to do that task or go on that journey?
  
  
• To make your dialogue (what people say to each other) sound real, open your ears to patterns of speech. If you hear an interesting phrase, jot it down in your writer’s notebook. I hear my characters’ dialogue in my head as I’m putting it down on the page, which is why I have to write in peace and quiet.
  
  
• You can get to know your characters before you begin a story by writing a short biography about them. In my Party Girls series, I included a fact file for each of the six girls at the start of their particular story – what they liked and disliked, whether they had any brothers or sisters, what was their favourite food, etc. (You can see my own fact file in the ‘Author’ section of this site!) You may not use this information later on, but it can help your hero or heroine come alive.
  
  
• When you have finished writing, put your work aside for a while; come back to it after a break to see whether there’s any editing to be done. You might have used the same word several times (I find ‘suddenly’ popping up all over the place), or you may spot a long sentence that needs splitting into two. Varying the length of sentences can help keep your writing fresh; coming after a long rambler, a short, punchy phrase is particularly effective. 
  
  
• Keep reading – lots! The more you read, the better you write, and losing yourself in a book is a pleasure that will last all your life. If you are interested in historical fiction, here are some books to look out for in your local library or bookshop (in no particular order):

I wrote this holiday diary when I was nearly eleven. ‘C’ is my long-suffering older brother!

Tom’s Midnight Garden, Philippa Pearce
When the clock strikes thirteen, Tom comes downstairs to find a garden beyond his aunt’s house which only ever appears at that time, and where he meets Hattie, a mysterious girl from another age. A magical, moving story.

Smith, Leon Garfield
Leon Garfield is a wonderful writer, one of my all-time favourites. Any of his books is sure to be a great read but you might like to start with Smith, the story of a young orphan lad who works as a pickpocket in the streets of eighteenth-century London.

The Railway Children, E E Nesbit
When their father mysteriously disappears for a while, Bobbie, Peter and Phyllis move with their mother from a large house in London to a tiny country cottage, where they amuse themselves by watching the trains steam along the nearby railway line, and make friends with the porter and stationmaster.

Black Beauty, Anna Sewell
Anna Sewell finished this book in 1877 and died not long afterwards. She wanted to draw attention to the cruelty with which horses were often treated in those days, but this story of the beautiful, spirited black horse is as fresh and inspiring to read as if it had been written yesterday.

Goodnight Mister Tom, Michelle Magorian
Willie Beech is a boy evacuated to the country in 1939 to stay with an old man, the Mister Tom of the title. He has been badly treated and abused at home, but Tom gradually wins his trust and nurses him back to health. A heartwarming book that will have you in tears a good few times (if you’re anything like me).

Stop the Train, Geraldine McCaughrean
A terrific story from a first-class writer – if you haven’t discovered Geraldine McCaughrean yet, you’re in for a treat. (Her latest book, Not the End of the World, is also wonderful). Cissy and her family settle in Oklahoma in 1893 and help build the new town of Florence alongside the Red Rock Railroad track. If the train doesn’t stop there, the town will die, but how can the people of Florence get in the way of this puffing metal monster?

Witch Child, Celia Rees
Set in the seventeenth century, this powerful book tells the story of Mary, who used to live with her grandmother in the forest until the old lady was accused of witchcraft. Mary sails to America, only to find herself in even greater danger than she faced in England.