How I write and doing things your own way

When I first decided to make an attempt at writing seriously, I failed.

My first proper novel sized project was about spies, secret societies and national secrets - and remains unfinished. The idea came the way most of my ideas have, I had a vivid dream that stuck with me after I woke. Within a few days of obsessively thinking about it I'd created characters with motives and back stories, I had subplots and something that I never had before a well thought out ending.

So, without much of an idea how to proceed, I put fingers to keyboard and I started writing. There were so many things that I didn't know, but the thing that I learned most quickly is writing is hard you guys. The majority of the time words don't flow from my mind on to the word document, some days its like I imagine running a marathon is. I can spend an hour staring at the screen and write a handful of sentences.

Upon discovering this I started to do some research. How do others do this? I wondered. Surely other authors must not have this issue, how else do they churn out story after story? I read Steven King's On Writing but felt like a failure when I was unable to finish the ten pages a day that he suggests. I read Maggie Stiefvater's blog where she says the key to success is having a strict plan - choose a time to write and adhere to it. I couldn't do this either, throughout high school and University never was I able to stick to a study schedule. This was no exception.

There are so many different writing tips out there if you go looking. Jeffery Deaver writes with his eyes closed, so as to envision the scene better. There are so many different techniques that are suggested for plotting; write character profiles, detailed synopsis and fleshing out each chapters before beginning.

I spent too much time trying to implement suggestions then I did writing. After twenty thousand words I was crippled with self doubt and the project died.

So when I had the idea for debut novel Sophie and Dion months went by before I started trying to write it. I was far too scared. But I did start and I kept at it until I finished. I'm not sure what the difference was, but I learned a valuable lesson - you need to do things the way that suit you. I can't structure my writing time - the same way I couldn't stick to a study timetable - I write when the urge hits me. Whether that be on my phone at a train stop, or scrawled on a spare piece of paper at lunch. I've written chapters on my Blackberry beneath the table at restaurants, at the beach and even in hospital when I had food poisoning. I am most creative when I allow myself to be spontaneous. I also learned that I'm a "pantser" rather then "plotter". That is to say I write by the seat of my pants. I don't spend hours on plots or character development - because the truth is I do most of that in my head. I spend hours day dreaming and fleshing out my characters in my mind until I know almost every little piece of them. Before I start writing I know the general structure, I write the scenes that I've seen in my head on post-it-notes so that I can visualize this and arrange them. I write down snatches of dialogue and build a plot around these.

I think that this is good advice for anything in your life that you want to do - whether that be running a marathon, saving money or raising a child. Read others advice and learn from it. But you need to do things the way that suits you, otherwise you're setting yourself up for failure. >