One Minute Workshop: Write to Write

      This month, I want to have a little chat about something that I get asked a lot, and I mean a hell of a lot. People will come up to me and ask, “What genre should I write in order to ensure that I get published?”

My reply is always this: “Why are you thinking about getting published?” Basically, writing is an art form. It is there for us to explore various ways that we can express feelings and emotions that are within us. Think about a painter or a sketch artist. They normally have a pad or canvas set up where they can let their imagination run riot and experiment with whatever is currently bouncing around inside their head. 

This is how the writer should approach their creative process. If we have an idea nagging at us, then we need to explore it or it can just get in the way of other things and we become convinced that we have writer’s block, whereas what the problem is, in reality, us not following our creative muse, so to speak.

Now if in the process we get published, then that’s fabulous. But the publication of work should be secondary to its creative journey. We should enjoy our writing journey, not try to force a literary square peg into a round hole. We should be proud of what we create rather than stress about whether or not some publisher in an office will like it.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advance screenings of my videos and free books.

ASC.

Read! Read! Read!

 It is so crucially important, as a writer, that one reads material almost continually. I was on a social media forum a few months back where a writer boasted that they had never read a book in their life! Their view was that in reading any other material, they would be influencing their own style and their work would not be pure. 

Well, what utter balderdash!

When artists learn how to paint, they study the masters to understand how techniques work.

When musicians start to compose, they will have over a hundred years of previous melodies bouncing around in their head to inspire and guide them.

Writing is exactly the same. If you do not read, you cannot write in a satisfying or indeed satisfactory manner. What is crucial, though, is that you do not stick to reading just one genre. When I was a teenager, I grew up on a diet of King, Straub and Rice. Needless to say, my earliest works emulated them. My stories were effectively fan fiction, which is a great place to start, but rapidly becomes tedious if you progress no further. Tedious for the reader and the author. It wasn’t until some years later, when I picked up detective novels and other types of genre, that I really started to develop my own style. I was able to sit down with the smorgasbord of literature and pick and choose elements which I enjoyed working with and tasted delicious as I scribbled away with them.

So, if you are a fan of horror, go away and read some romance. If you stick resolutely to historical fiction, dive into some sci-fi. You’ll be surprised at what you’ll take away from these other styles of writing.

Don’t forget to visit my website www.aschambers.co.uk for more details about my books. 

You can subscribe to my newsletter here for up-to-date details regarding all my writing and appearances.

You can check out my Patreon Book Club for advance screenings of my videos and free books.

ASC.