Jessica Norrie’s Top 10 Writing Tips
Welcome to week 9 of our Top 10 Writing Tips by… feature. If you’ve missed any of the other top tip posts you can find them all HERE. Please feel free to pop over and connect with the wonderful authors who have taken part.
Next up for the challenge is author Jessica Norrie.
Jessica is the author of The Magic Carpet (2019) and The Infinity Pool (2015) and a co-authored textbook.
Jessica’s Top Ten Tips:
- Get started! When you really can’t think of anything to write, write something anyway. Because you can’t start editing (= improving) anything until it exists on a screen or page in front of you.
- But stop too. Nobody can write more than a certain amount at one time before the quality sinks.
- Accept there will be good days and bad days – like anything creative. Or even non creative (I compare it to reverse parking. Days when you can fit in the tiniest of spaces, others when you give up, shrug and drive away like you didn’t even notice the people blaring their horns behind you.)
- Read aloud what you’ve written. Nothing like it to make sense of sentence structure.
- Avoid using the same words and sentence structure over and over again, even if they’re your favourites, especially adverbs. (Anxiously, I checked if I’d done this here. Carefully, I read these top tips aloud. Fortuitously, I realised I hadn’t. Anxiously, I wondered if people would get my point here.) haha
- Don’t worry about Twitter, Facebook etc. while you’re writing. Let the dishes pile up but you probably should pay the bills.
- Get your work edited by a pro before sending it to agents or publishers and certainly before publishing it yourself. If you can’t afford this, ask around – there will always be nosey parkers (nice ones) and ex teachers whose fingers twitch at the thought of some marking. Or get just an affordable section edited which may point to improvements you could make throughout. Honestly, it’s better than nothing. Another pair of eyes will see typos and errors you missed and can help with style and content worries too, if you let them. Don’t rely solely on spellcheck and grammar check and never use Google translate.
- Check that timelines, dates, locations etc work in your story. Is Saleem tall and well covered on one page and diminutive on another? Is the war still going on, or did it end? Does Amelia who lives in Basingstoke gobble risotto in chapter one and spit it out in her Manchester kitchen the next day?
- Accept criticism graciously. Also, ignore criticism – it’s your book!
- Don’t set your heart on a traditional publishing contract. If you get one, congratulations! If not, there are many other pathways to publication nowadays and they all have pros and cons. Good luck!
Huge thanks to Jessica for sharing her top tips. If you’d like to find out more about the author and her books then you can connect with her here:
The Magic Carpet can be found at https://tinyurl.com/y2gk2g7q
The Infinity Pool is at getBook.at/TheInfinityPool
Jessica blogs at: https://jessicanorrie.wordpress.com/
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/wordsandfictions/
Twitter: @jessica_norrie
Shelley Wilson Author 
I find reading aloud really helps!!
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Me too. I remember the first time my editor suggested I do it for a scene I’d written. It was amazing how easily I could spot the problem when I read it out loud vs reading it in my head.
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I read most of what I write out aloud to my kids/ the cat/ the tv/ the wall/ whatever us around me, and it’s amazing what you pick up!
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Yes, reading aloud is definitely good, but I can only do so much at a time.
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Number 3 is a good one. The trick is to know that (figuratively speaking) the space is too small before you exhaust yourself trying to squeeze into it.
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I love this explanation, April.
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You’ve taken my analogy and run with it (driven off with it?) Thank you!
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It’s a good analogy.
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I notice that you include the unusual tip to ‘stop’ in your tips, Jessica. Most writers never say that and insist you carry on until you drop. Knowing when to stop for a while is so important and could save your sanity for another day!
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Not just a tip for writing! One that’s just as important in life I think x
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But of course!
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Oh I’m a great believer in stopping…housework, writing, the wrong job, I find a bit of stopping gives me the energy to start again!
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I think it has something to do with the small feeling of playing truant. Exhilarating!
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Good comment about editing, Jessica – but can I just stress the difference between proofreading and editing here? I’m surprised how many writers don’t know. I don’t use an editor, but know the importance of professional proofreading!
For anyone reading this who doesn’t know, editors don’t fix practical errors, unless they’re ‘copy’ editors specifically; for this you need a proofreader. My sister is a proofreader and, on the other side of the coin, always has to make sure her clients know that she fixes errors only – typos, grammatical, punctuation, spelling, but will also advise on repetition, wrong words used, tautology, etc. In the past she’s had clients with bad reviews about the actual content of the book, try to blame it on her!!!
A good list – I love reading these!
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Thank you for that Terry, I always find my writing students get muddled over this too – I might print off your comment for them!
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By all means – a descriptive laziness on my part and also possibly reflects that many indie authors, much as they would like to, can’t afford to pay for the separate services and discover there is no shortage of people who, unlike you, don’t make the distinction when selling them a package. Of course I’m not saying the quality of service is necessarily as good, just that that’s the reality for many.
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I should have got in at the head of the comments to thank you for having me on your blog, Shelley. I got up late today! I’ve really enjoyed how varied and practical the tips in this series have been and have learned a lot myself. Thank you for hosting it.
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Thank you so much for being a part of this feature. I’ve loved all the posts so far x
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