Jennifer McMahon’s Top Writing Tips
Writers Write shares writing tips and resources. In this post, we share American author Jennifer McMahon’s Top Writing Tips.
Jennifer McMahon is the American New York Times bestselling author of suspense novels. She was born 5 June 1968. Her novels include The Winter People and Promise Not To Tell. Her latest book is The Drowning Kind.
We found these tips from the author on Writer’s Digest, Writing Routines, and the author’s website, and we wanted to share them with you. (Read the full articles on Writer’s Digest & Writing Routines)
Jennifer McMahon’s Top Writing Tips
1. ‘Write the story you’d most want to read. Don’t write a story just because you think it might be a bestseller or that it would make Great Aunt Edna proud. Think about the books you love, the ones you really lose yourself in. …’
2. ‘Begin with character. Make her flawed and believable. Let her live and breathe and give her the freedom to surprise you and take the story in unexpected directions. If she’s not surprising you, you can bet she’ll seem flat to your readers. …’
3. ‘Give that character a compelling problem. Your character has to have something that’s going to challenge her, torment her and propel her forward. At the heart of every story is conflict—whether external or internal, make it a good one, and remember that this problem is going to shape your character, leaving her forever changed.’
4. ‘Make things happen! You can have the greatest characters in the world, and write beautifully, but if nothing’s happening, the story falls on its face pretty quickly. In my books, I make sure something important to the plot is happening in each scene. And if there’s a scene in there that isn’t helping to move the story along in some vital way, I cut it, no matter how great it is. …’
5. ‘Make it believable. Ah, you say, but you sometimes write stories with ghosts and fairies—how believable is that? It works if you make it believable in the universe of the book. In Promise Not to Tell, I came up with rules for the ghost—things she could and couldn’t do. I gave her a history and compelling reason to return. Readers hate cheap tricks. ‘
6. ‘Stick with it the project. You’ll be tempted to give up a thousand and one times. Don’t. Finish the story. Then work twice as hard to revise it. Do your best to get it out in the world. …’
7. ‘And lastly: Ignore the rules. (Including mine.) Everyone’s got advice and theories; people want to pigeonhole you, put you in a genre with its own rules and conventions. I think the work comes out better when we leave all that behind; when the only thing to be true to is the writing.’
Read the full articles on Writer’s Digest (tips above) & Writing Routines (tips below)
8. ‘I have developed my own mantra, one which is so vital to who I am and what I do that I had it tattooed on my wrist: Write what scares you.’
9. ‘I start off every day with a to-do list. I actually use a bullet journal to help me stay organized with both writing and life tasks. I’m a big fan of planning out what I have to do, and making little boxes I can check off—so satisfying! I’ll write down things like “Rough out chapter 3” or “Get 2,000 words in” or “Brainstorm ways to fix XYZ problem”. Oh, and I make coffee. Coffee is an absolute essential! Can’t start work without it.’
10. ‘I actually have an idea box – an old cigar box I decorated with images and words. I put all my favourite ideas into it – things scrawled on index cards or typed up on the computer. Ideas for stories, characters, settings, names I want to use. When I’m stuck or unsure what might be next, I open up that box and usually find inspiration. It’s like a magic writing cauldron!’
11. ‘Here’s my process in a nutshell: I don’t do much planning or outlining. I write a sparse, incredibly messy first draft. Once that’s done, I print it, then lay it all out, chapter by chapter, over the floor of my house. Then I walk over and around it, study it, start moving things around. I take out chapters. I move chapters from one place to another. I break chapters up or combine them. I fill in holes with pieces of paper with roughed out details of scenes that need to be added in. I colour code each chapter by timeline and/or point of view. It’s kind of like doing a giant collage. Once I’m done with this and have a structure I’m happy with, I get out my index cards. I make one card for each chapter and just write down the bare bones details of what needs to happen. When I’m done, I’ve got a stack of cards (again color-coded by point of view and/or timeline) that is now a rough outline that I keep by my desk and use as I revise.’
Source for image: author’s website.
TIP: If you want help writing a book, buy The Novel Writing Exercises Workbook.
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TIP: If you want help writing a book, buy The Novel Writing Exercises Workbook.