AUTHOR SOPHIE KINSELA: 10 tips of being a best-selling author

Here are Kinsella's top 10 tips for
being a bestselling author.
1. Always carry a notebook
Carry a notebook everywhere and
write down everything that springs to
mind, even if it doesn't seem relevant
at the time. You can do a lot with a
passing thought or a little bit of
overheard dialogue.
Get into the habit of looking at life
like a writer and writing it all down.
Don't worry about what "it" is going
to be yet, just write it down as a
habit. Because then, when you do
have your big idea and want to write
a book, you'll already be used to that
process and have material to work
with.
2. Think "what if" and read
Start to see the world in a "what if"
way and keep your possibilities for a
story. Teach yourself to take a tiny
little nugget of substance and
extrapolate and tease it out into
something else, have fun with it and
see the potential.
It can seem tiny and insignificant but
if you can sense the grain of a story
there and keep your mind open to
those possibilities, you will
constantly come up with new ideas.
Reading is vital if you want to be a
writer, it's essential. I've been a
bookworm ever since I was a child, I
was the type who would read a cereal
packet over and over rather than
make conversation at breakfast!
3. Write the book that you want to
read.
People often think that they should
write to please someone else,
whether it is to please the audience,
or critics, or a readership. My instinct
has always said that you can't
second guess anybody else.
'What you have to do is find your
story and find your voice,' says
Sophie Kinsella
What you can do, is think if you were
a reader, what would you want to
read? One way to visualise that is to
go into a shop and imagine the book
that would make you want to grab it
off the shelf.
The chances are that if you would
grab it off the shelf and be excited to
read it. then other people would too.
So always start with yourself, write
something that will please you.
4. Don't talk about what you're
writing
I am very secretive when I'm writing a
new book. I think that writers are very
fragile, they're like butterflies or
perhaps moths; they can be easily
crumpled. If you're very sensitive,
which I am, it only takes a raised
eyebrow or a chance remark about an
idea for you to lose confidence in it.
I think it's much better to let these
things gestate in private, that way
you can be free to try stuff out
without any fear of being judged or
worrying whether it might not work.
The minute you put it out there and
ask for opinions from other people, it
will just get in the way of your
creativity.
The only person I let read my work
when I'm writing is my husband and
we've had this arrangement long
enough that he knows what not to
say! I think a work in progress is a
very precious and nebulous thing and
it can be easily destroyed so protect
it!
5. Forget about genre to find your
voice
I think that one of the hardest things
as a writer is to find your voice. See
what you enjoy writing, because let's
face it, you're going to be spending a
long time in this zone, it had better
be something you enjoy and
something which you can do.
Don't be afraid of a few false starts. I
once tried to write a thriller and I
remember my agent saying that the
plot was ok but that all the characters
were far too nice. I'd written about all
these nice middle class people
walking around killing each other!
Don't sit there thinking what genre
should I write in, perhaps you'll
invent a whole new one! Instead,
start off by thinking I'm going to write
a story and wait for other people to
put it in a genre. What you have to do
is find your story and find your voice.
6. Just get to the end
It's the hardest thing and it's the
most important thing because so
many of us have ideas for books. The
first stage is actually write it instead
of just talking about it, and the next
stage is to keep going until you get
to the end.
Everybody, no matter who they are
gets to the middle of a book and
thinks crikey, I've had enough of this.
You get bored with your story and
your characters, you hate them all,
you can't think why you started this
wretched story in the first place.
The truth is, every book is hard to
write, everybody reaches a wall,
whether it is a plot hole or a scene
that you can't get past. So you've
just got to get to the end. Even if it's
not the greatest draft, if it needs
rewriting fine, at least you have a
book to rewrite.
7. Walk and drink cocktails!
Everybody gets stuck. I find cocktails
very helpful! And that's the truth, if I
get stuck, I'll go out with my
husband and we'll order cocktails
and talk while we drink them. By the
end of the evening, we've always
ironed out the knot.
I find it loosens you up and also it
turns it into a fun project, there's
nothing worse than sitting grimly
staring at a screen, you must get out.
The other thing to do is go for a
walk, walking seems to free up the
cogs of the brain like nothing else.
You can sit at your desk for two
hours, feeling wretched because you
can't find the solution, then you give
up and go for a walk and it comes to
you straight away.
8. Plan your books
For me, the planning stage is vital
and it takes months, if not years.
When I'm writing a book, I do it in my
office, but when I'm planning a book I
like going and sitting in coffee shops.
I like the buzz and I like being
surrounded by people, but remaining
anonymous.
I write my plot points on file cards
and Blu Tac them to the wall. Then I
stand back and look at the terrain of
the story and decide whether I like it
and if not I can just move them
around. I find that very satisfying -
it's a bit like doing a crossword
puzzle!
The truth is you can plan and plan
but during the story, something will
change, that's just the way it is. But I
find starting off with structure and a
beginning, a middle and an end is
vital.
9. Get a great agent and consider a
pseudonym
I think I've written 20 books in total
now and I've always had the same
agent. Having an agent, for me is the
best thing I've ever done, because
she's guided me, she's been a friend,
she's dealt with all the business side
of what I do and I wouldn't have
known where to start without her.
There are lots of advantages to
having a pseudonym. It gives you a
bit of privacy so you can have an
official name and a home name. And I
don't think there are many careers
where you can just completely
reinvent yourself every so often - it's
wonderful.
10. Write the next you
Everyone has got a story to tell and
everyone can learn and improve their
writing. There are some elements of
writing which can definitely be
taught, a sort of craft and you should
always try to learn and improve. I am
still learning with every book.
I don't see why anybody shouldn't
write a book. There is nobody who is
not interesting in this world, so why
shouldn't they tell their story?
You write what you write. You can't
decide to write a certain book, I
believe your writing finds you. So
don't go thinking, I'm going to write
the next Da Vinci Code or the next
Stephen King. Write the next you.
You are going to be the next big
thing!