Alan Moore gives some helpful advice to writers…

In my opinion, both Watchmen and V for Vendetta are outstanding pieces of work, so any advice this chap gives is well worth listening to.

The article from Digital Spy makes a huge deal of his advice to self-publish, but for me, the standout piece of advice was to keep writing: rework until you are completely happy with what you’ve done, and when you get down to it, you’re the only person who will know for sure when it’s right.

But on the topic of the publishing industry, he had this to say:

As far as publishing goes, my first tip is publishing today is a complete mess. I know brilliant authors who cannot get published… Most of the book publishers don’t want to take a chance on publishing fiction when they can publish an autobiography of The Stig or something like that… The best way these days is publish yourself, it’s become easier and easier.

I certainly agree that publishing is easy; the problem is selling what you’ve published.

Watch the video, and if you’re in one of those ‘what the hell’s it all for’ kind of a rut then watch it again.

Slash and Burn … Part II

You hit a point during novel reduction when you honestly believe that your work is parred to the bone; there is not a single word you can take out that won’t crack the foundations of your masterpiece and leave a pile of literary rubble on the bedroom floor.

So it’s time to take a break, and while you’re having a break, you have time to read someone else’s book. Doesn’t have to be a fresh one; in fact, it’s better if it’s one that you’ve read before. This time though, you’re going to read it with an editor’s eye: look for bits you can reduce or trim away completely. This is not to say that the author would agree with you; this is entirely your opinion.

So what are you looking for? Well, exactly the same excesses you’re looking for in your own work:

  • The odd walk or journey that doesn’t lead anywhere or tell you anything new about the characters.
  • Repeating information: something that is said, and then said again, in a slightly different way, a few lines later.
  • Long, flowery chapter intros that set a nice poetic scene, but will probably get skipped over by the reader. (You’ll know them when you see them, because you jump the last ten lines or so.)
  • Long flowery chapter endings that you feel resentful for having read. (You’ll know them because you’ll think, ‘What the hell was that all about?’ as soon as you’ve finished it.
  • Sentences that seem to run on for years and years.
  • Whole chapters that you think you could do without.
  • Characters that bring a little colour to the story, but not much else.

Be brutal; in fact, be over-brutal. You’re not really criticising your favourite author; you’re getting yourself in the right frame of mind to criticise your own work … again.

Then, after another few days, go for it again. You’ll find that you weren’t quite as ‘finished’ as you first thought.