Decisions, decisions, decisions...

[John Dean]

It’s national Crime Reading Month and a lot of writers are producing blogs etc focusing on their craft and I am no exception.

It’s national Crime Reading Month and a lot of writers are producing blogs etc focusing on their craft and I am no exception.

Writing is a complex business, so many things to consider and each novel represents thousands of decisions by the author. Everything from point of view to pace, characterisation to plotlines, grammar to spelling has to be considered and subjected to decision-making.

The result for every author is that a novel is the result of thousand upon thousands of edits before it is ready to go onto the publisher for their editing and proofreading.

So how do you keep focused during this process, which can be intense and protracted? For me, although every decision is important the most important one is to always remember that we can use whatever word we wish to describe ourselves – writers, authors, novelists – but first and foremost we are ‘storytellers’ and that means that every decision we take must be taken to serve the story first and foremost.

Should you wish to read more of my idle musings on writing at my website at www.johndean.ning.com

You can find out more about Crime Reading Month at 

Writing is a complex business, so many things to consider and each novel represents thousands of decisions by the author. Everything from point of view to pace, characterisation to plotlines, grammar to spelling has to be considered and subjected to decision-making.

The result for every author is that a novel is the result of thousand upon thousands of edits before it is ready to go onto the publisher for their editing and proofreading.

So how do you keep focused during this process, which can be intense and protracted? For me, although every decision is important the most important one is to always remember that we can use whatever word we wish to describe ourselves – writers, authors, novelists – but first and foremost we are ‘storytellers’ and that means that every decision we take must be taken to serve the story first and foremost.

Should you wish to read more of my idle musings on writing at my website at www.johndean.ning.com

You can find out more about Crime Reading Month at

https://crimereadingmonth.co.uk