The first question a journalist asked me last week was why I made the decision to write my new book as fiction. Why I made the leap. Although Last Seen in Lhasa is a travel memoir, I used fictional techniques — creating character, plenty of dialogue...
What makes you write? Do you write to be read? I was watching an interview with Australian author Markus Zusak (The Book Thief) who said that even if he knew his next novel would never be read, he’d still write it. That’s pretty honourable, I reckon. When...
If you have one of those days when you sit down and don’t know what to write, then find an object and write about that. Ideally choose something meaningful. Or quirky. Or precious. This exercise works for non-fiction and fiction. For travel memoir, pick an object that...
To make the publisher’s deadline for my new novel, I’ve been through an intense period of editing. At times it felt like running a marathon – except the finish line kept getting further away. At the end, when I should have had my feet up, I...
There are lots of things that stop us writing. A common one is fear. How much do we hold ourselves back as writers? What are we most afraid of? Here are some common responses: Rejection Condemnation from others Being judged Putting yourself out there Not getting the story right. Last weekend I...
When I teach writing, I always ask my workshop students how they create a routine for themselves. Here’s what some say: I write for 40 minutes during my lunch break twice a week. I write on the train to work. I stay in and write one evening every...
Hello everyone, I’ve been quiet for a while. After working on my novel for two years, I’m excited to announce that it’s nearly ready for publication. The Pagoda Tree will be published on 26th June 2013 by Penguin. As I needed to create space for the...
I’ve just finished my first five-week travel memoir course of the year. As always, it’s exciting to see writers develop over the time we spend together. I always leave feeling inspired by people’s journeys and their courage to share them. Now, I’m not one to have...
Writing is often about fixing: fixing big things like structure and small points like punctuation. Once you know how to fix something—and this comes through trial and error—then you know why some pieces work and some don’t. It also helps to know what sort of writer...
January has almost gone and in life’s busyness, I wonder how many of those good intentions to write have slipped… Rather than come up with all the sensible reasons to write (there are lots of blogs that do that), I want to share advice from author...