Top 10 Writing Tips by Author Charlie Laidlaw @claidlawauthor #WritingTips

Welcome to week 19 of our Top 10 Writing Tips 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 and creative writing tutor, Charlie Laidlaw.

Charlie was born and brought up in the west of Scotland and graduated from the University of Edinburgh. He still has the scroll, but it’s in Latin, so it could say anything. He is the author of three novels, The Things We Learn When We’re Dead, The Space Between Time, and his latest release Love Potions and Other Calamities (all published by Accent Press). Charlie is married with two grown-up children and lives in East Lothian.

Ten Tips for Writing by Charlie Laidlaw:

1. Read lots of books.
2. Read more books.
3. Books are your teachers, so read even more books.
4. Understand why you like a book. Its structure, plot and storylines, characterisation etc,
5. Know your limitations. You don’t immediately become a doctor or pilot. You have to learn how to write.
6. And you don’t need to write to write. If you’re on a bus or train, look out the window and describe to yourself in words what you’re looking at.
7. Carry a notebook. An idea forgotten is an idea lost.
8. Writing is something that we do when we really should be doing something else. If you can, make a certain time of the day or week your writing time.
9. Don’t set your expectations too high. Just write because you want to, not because you want to make a fortune.
10. Lastly, don’t give up. You’re only a failure when you give up.

Huge thanks to Charlie for sharing his top tips with us. You can find out more about Charlie and his books via Amazon and connect with him on Twitter.