Table of Contents
Introduction xi
1 Are You Ready to Commit? 1
Writing every day 2
Finding your best writing time 4
Yes - writing is working! 6
Writers' block 7
Writing tools 10
Are you sitting comfortably? 11
How do you know it's not a waste of time? 12
How to give yourself more writing time each day 13
2 A Novel Idea! 16
How to think of that winning idea 16
Tricks and tips on how to find a novel idea 17
Still not sure your idea will work? 34
3 Finding Your Voice 37
But how can your find yours? 38
4 The Killer First Sentence 46
So how do you come up with one of your own? 46
Can you live up to the promise of that first sentence? 49
Full circle 51
5 It's All in the Plot: Part One 54
What's your problem? 54
I don't believe it! 56
What is a sub-plot and do I need one? 57
The mechanics of plotting 58
Plotting a book - the Sophie King way! 59
6 It's All in the Plot: Part Two 68
The A-Z method 68
Throw and scatter method 71
Feeling board? 72
Tree diagram 72
Plotting your beginnings and endings 78
Does an ending need to be happy? 79
Research 80
How to plot flashbacks 80
7 Who Are You? How to Create Convincing Characters 83
What's their problem? 85
Who's who? 88
Are they believable? 89
My family and other animals 92
Make the most of your baddy 93
Minor characters 94
First date rule 94
Choosing a name 94
Have you missed their birthday? 95
How well do you know your character? 97
Going back to the beginning 98
8 Viewpoint 101
First person, third person or omniscient narrator? 107
Combining plot and viewpoint 114
9 De-mystifying Dialogue 118
Too much dialogue? 118
Too little dialogue? 119
How to make dialogue sound natural 121
Show and don't tell 125
Accents 126
Grammar 127
10 Setting 131
Going abroad 132
Don't overdo it! 133
Trawl your memory 135
11 How to Show and Not Tell 138
Use strong words and phrases 138
Internal dialogue 139
Doctor, doctor! 140
Double-checking! 141
Watch your language! 142
Get inside your character's head 142
12 Sense and Sensibility 147
Smell 147
Colour 148
Sound 148
Touch 149
Taste 149
13 Humour 153
Humorous example 155
14 Different Genres 158
Historicals 159
Contemporary romantic fiction 159
Crime and thrillers 159
Sci-fi 159
15 How to Keep a Timeline 161
Special occasions 162
Seasons of the year 163
Counting down the years 164
16 The Art of Revision 166
Print out 167
Read out aloud 167
The red pen 167
Computer hassles 168
To cut or not to cut? 168
Enjoy it! 169
17 Synopsis 171
18 The Title 175
Tips on how to choose your title 175
19 Revealing All! 179
Writers' courses and groups - good idea? 180
Literary consultancies 181
Literary festivals 181
Writers' holidays 182
20 How to Get Published 183
If at first… 184
Do you need an agent? 186
Romantic Novelists Association 186
The internet 186
Competitions 187
Dealing with rejection 187
Self-publishing 189
21 Writing the Next Novel 193
22 Don't Skip This! It Might Help 195
Definitions 195
Commonly asked questions 196
Useful organisations 198
Index 201
