I know. It is a good old while since I wrote one of these tips.

How’ve you been?

Well, here’s the book you really MUST read if you’re going to write that novel. I mean it. None of us has as much time as we’d like to sit and read and ponder the universe, and maybe it feels like if you spend all your time reading, you’ll have no time for writing.

This is the exception. It’s a short read, won’t take long, and it’ll save you looking back at your first book and apologising.

Book Review – Put The Cat In The Oven Before You Describe The Kitchen by Jake Vander Ark

First published, 2012

⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐ ⭐

All new writers should read this book. Oh yeah. I said it. There’s something here for every writer really, from would-be to the more experienced author but – eesh, how I wish I’d read this book before I published my first.

There’s excellent advice here; brief and to the point, but thoroughly explained. Mr Vander Ark talks through concepts like Show, Don’t Tell – a major stumbling block for a lot of writers, what the inciting incident really is, right the way through to the exploration of truth, and why you should watch good TV and films with a notebook.

If you want to have a crack at writing a book and you don’t want your first novel to be a source of mixed pride and disappointment, read this now.

https://amzn.to/3nmd5oe