As a writer who’s been writing for the majority of my life including throughout my teenage years, I’ve learnt quite a lot of dos and don’ts. So, in this week’s blog let me share a few things I would say to aspiring writers.

I think one of the most important things to remember is not to force it. If you don’t feel like writing then you don’t have to write, it’s okay to be defeated by writer’s block once in a while. All writers go through this and most of them do make it out of the other side. Don’t feel pressured by others to write something every day, the best things you write are usually the ones that come naturally or when you least expect it. Usually for me, it was when I needed to study I’d have the most inspiration which was unfortunate.

And don’t feel bad if you don’t feel like you writing isn’t as good as other peoples. Sure, if it’s not good then people will tell you but you can make it better. Just because you don’t use fancy words or clever situations it doesn’t make your book any less worthwhile. The style of prose in The Luke Bright Series is intentionally more casual and slightly immature as the first person character of Luke is an immature naive unreliable narrator and he’s only nineteen with very little in terms of education. It wouldn’t work if it was more advanced, it would be unnatural.

Its especially important (even if you’re embarrassed) to never delete anything you’ve written, even if you don’t like or if you don’t think it’s mature or good enough, you’ll learn to develop it. I had stuff in Atlantic Split that I wrote when I was 13 that hasn’t changed, just the stuff around it changed. Everything can develop into something if you let it.

And I would also say, never stop writing. If you want to write, don’t let anyone stop you. Write if you love it and don’t be ashamed of it. But also don’t expect the first thing to do to be perfect and don’t worry if people don’t like it or criticise it, use that to make it better. We all need constructive criticism to grow.

But the most important thing is to write about what you are passionate about. Don’t just write for the sake of writing, write about something that you yearn to write about, something you won’t get bored of. I know I’ve had a lot of projects that I’ve started but never ended because I just didn’t care about them as much as I needed to. But with The Luke Bright Series I have always been fully committed and passionate about sharing the story behind it, which is why I persisted. As I said before, the best kinds of writing come when you’re passionate about what you’re writing about, and that doesn’t come if it is something you truly care about. Truly want to stick with and want the world to know about too.

Atlantic Split is the first book in The Luke Bright Series and is available to purchase NOW! Please follow me on my blog and my social media links below and use the links on my website to purchase a copy if you have not done so. Don’t forget to leave a review! The second book, At Liberty To Live will be released in AUTUMN 2018. Thank you once again for taking the time to read this blog post.

N.A.K.