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Ian Rankin’s reign at the top of the book charts can be traced back more than thirty years, and his latest novel, A Song for Dark Times, has topped almost every bestseller list in the country.
But the 60-year-old, whose books have been translated into more than twenty languages, understands better than most the difficulties of finding the formula for continued success.
Having produced roughly a novel each year since the release of The Flood in 1986, Rankin has become an expert in finding the plots, sub-plots, and characters to keep readers coming back for more.

Two of the most obvious, but regularly overlooked, tips Ian has for all writers is to Read Lots and to Write Lots.
The best writers are avid readers, and often take inspiration from their peers.

Four years after Rankin graduated from Edinburgh University, he completed his story of Mandy Miller for publication, and twelve months later, he published his first Rebus novel, Knots and Crosses.

During the years before he became a full-time novelist, he worked as a grape-picker, a swineherd, a journalist, and a taxman. He believes gaining experiences is key to Having a Story to Tell.
But persistence is also a major factor in getting the story you want to tell over the finishing line. As Ian says: Don’t Give Up.
The multi-award-winning writer is also adamant that criticism is a vital part of the writing process.

He advises all budding authors to Learn to be Self-Critical throughout the drafting process, and also to Learn what Criticism to Accept from external sources.
As well as his celebrated novels, Ian has also written a stage play, published three collections of short stories, and released a novella and a graphic novel.
He has also written under the pseudonym Jack Harvey.

But he has always been reluctant to drift too far from the crime genre that has brought him so many book sales.
As he explains, he believes all authors should Know the Market.

Readers usually have a preferred story genre, and it is worth knowing what is currently popular.

Like every other successful author out there, Rankin works hard to perfect his trade, but he does admit that skill, research, and determination can only go far.
His final tips for making it as a writer are simple – Get Lucky and Stay Lucky.

It was Downton Abbey creator Julian Fellowes who ruined Rupert Frazer’s first attempt at gaining a writing credit.

But there have been no hard feelings from the celebrated 73-year-old actor as he has gone on to star in the award-winning period drama.

And now, after teaming up for a second time with PublishNation, he has finally released his first work of published fiction.

The Crimson Pantomime is a highly enjoyable and deeply engaging debut novel set within the deceptive and often unpredictable world of acting.

The convincing and thoroughly gripping narrative is described as being ‘as juicy as a Christmas pudding’ by fellow actor Sir Ian McKellen.

Rupert has appeared in some of the country’s most memorable television programmes, including Foyle’s War, Prime Suspect, and more recently Coronation Street, as well as such epic films as Gandhi and Empire of the Sun.

And he can look back on a theatre career stretching back to 1970, which has seen him share the stage of the Citizens, Royal National, and Royal Court theatres with such greats as Laurence Olivier, Derek Jacobi, Judi Dench, and John Gielgud.

It was following a role beside Gielgud in the 1985 film adaptation of The Shooting Party that Rupert was first drawn towards a writing project.

Impressed with Isabel Colegate’s pre-war novel, he went on to buy the rights to another of her classics, Statues in the Garden.

Rupert’s screenplay adaptation of the country estate drama was well received, but before he could begin pitching to production companies, another pre-war period adaptation stole his thunder.

Rupert explained: “Isabel Colegate expressed her approval of my screenplay adaptation of Statues in the Garden, and everything was looking good, but Julian Fellowes beat me to it by doing Gosford Park.

“There wasn’t room for another drama from a 1930s country estate at the same time.

“Julian, of course, went on to do Downton Abbey after that.”

Rupert had to wait until series six of Downton Abbey to make his appearance as Neville Chamberlain.

Despite his early screenplay setback, Rupert worked with the team at PublishNation to produce his critically-acclaimed family memoir, Relative Times, in 2013.

The beautifully recalled homage to seven members of his family, who had come through colonial and world wars, was seamlessly pieced together with anecdotes of how each in turn had influenced his acting career.

Rupert said: “I have had the most extraordinary life, and I wanted to honour the generations before me who made it all possible and helped me become what I am.

“I have done all of my things on stage or in front of a camera, yet they did a lot of the same things in real life, coming through several wars.

“Relative Times was an act of gratitude.”

Although Rupert did finish a novel in the 1990s, which remains unpublished and securely locked away in a drawer, it was the writing and publishing of Relative Times which provided the confidence to progress on to The Crimson Pantomime.

With the help of a writing group in South East London, and on a mission to right a literary wrong, the father-of-three has spent several years developing his characters and the narrative.

He explained: “I read a novel by someone rather famous about acting and it was terrible – just full of cliches.

“I know what it’s like to be an actor and there is nothing cliched about it – I wanted to introduce the aspects of my profession that are fairly unknown, yet very much real.

“The good thing about the writing group I belong to is that they keep you in your place – we often go home from meetings bleeding.

“I made a good start on The Crimson Pantomime and the writing group told me it could go two ways – an airport novel or something a bit better.”

Thankfully, Rupert’s finished novel is much more than airport fare.

And with help once more from the PublishNation team, it was released during the summer, yet again to critical acclaim.

The Crimson Pantomime probes the blurred lines between reality and illusion, and the psychological challenges that the profession demands.

As well as a being a compelling page-turner of a thriller, Rupert’s novel is a convincing study of the complex layers that make up identity.

Sir Ian McKellen is among the many industry insiders who have been won over by The Crimson Pantomime.

He said: “Rupert Frazer’s tale skilfully leads you into a world where gossip bumps up against melodrama and the wayward passions of his cast – a pantomime perhaps, but as juicy as a Christmas pudding.

“Like the best fiction, it makes you wonder whether it is, in fact, fact.”

On top of the star endorsements, The Crimson Pantomime has also received a string of five-star reviews from other readers since its release.

Reviewer David Austin stated: “… it is a captivating, irresistible story.
“At over 400 pages, it is not a short novel, but it is hard to put down, and it will not leave you for some time after you have.”
Following the initial success of The Crimson Pantomime, Rupert has begun work on an adaptation of Arthur Schnitzler’s influential play, Das Weite Land.

Does Snapchat or Facebook, or a smartphone, have a place in literature?

If anyone can be credited for creating a credible correlation between the latest communication methods and prose, it’s Irish author Sally Rooney.

Whether you have read the Man Booker-nominated Normal People or watched the prime-time BBC television adaptation, it’s easy to see why the 29-year-old from Dublin is being championed as the voice of the millennials.

As with her 2017 debut novel, Conversations with Friends, Sally explores modern relationships with all their pressures of the present-day, and doesn’t shy away from the everyday use of online connectivity.

But she is the first to admit she struggled to plug modern technology into her early attempts at writing.

Sally, who was named as The Sunday Times 2017 Young Writer of the Year, explained: “I was in my late teens and early twenties… I found it really hard to set stories I was writing in the present day because the present didn’t have a literary enough quality to it.

“I was reading Franny and Zooey and Raymond Carver, and I felt that in order to write something literary, it had to be like that – stuff set in New York in the 1950s.

“I felt like my characters can have telephones but they can’t have mobile phones.

“They can have a radio but I won’t give them a TV.

“Then I started reading Miranda July’s short story collection, No One Belongs Here More Than You, and I realized that literariness was in the sentences. That was a big moment for me.”

Whether it’s on Brontë’s 18th century rugged Yorkshire moors or the Victorian streets of Dickens’ London, the greatest novels almost always have relationships at their heart.

But today’s relationships are often multi-faceted with social media and emails having as big a role as the face-to-face and physical aspects.

In Sally’s first novel, Conversations with Friends, Messenger and email were crucial to the relationship between central characters, Frances, Bobbi, Nick and Melissa.

And she didn’t shy away from using the immediate language associated with type-chat for much of her book.

She added: “I spend so much of my time writing emails to my friends, and the voice that I have when I’m writing emails feels like my voice.

“That’s me writing, trying to communicate something to someone, who I trust, as I would like to trust a reader.

“Obviously Frances isn’t me, but the voice that she uses in the book isn’t dissimilar to the voice she uses in Instant Messenger and email.

“And we know that she’s a writer in the book, and she gets a story published, but the only writings we ever read of hers are her emails and messages.

“They are texts that she produces in her voice, and they are part of her writing life, even if they’re not ‘creative writing’.

“Messenger is definitely closer to speech than to email because it’s spontaneous, and you can’t revise and work on and shape each message without breaking the flow of the conversation.

“You just type what you have to say and hit return, then type another one and hit return again, and whatever editing you do is with an asterisk.

“Instant messaging does sit on that interesting border between text and conversation.”

Not every self-publishing author surpasses their literary expectations and achieves success. But Swiss-based management consultant Scott Chapman is one of the growing number who has – time and time again.
The 57-year-old Glaswegian’s through-the-centuries Templar detective novels have continued to top the charts and attract five-star reviews over the past seven years. His hugely popular Peter Sparke series has also unexpectedly become a lucrative side income.

Scott admits that considering himself a writer was the biggest thrill when publishing his first novel back in 2013.
He explained: “It was my brother who said that there was no reason I shouldn’t try writing a book.
“He tends to be worth listening to, so I wrote a few thousand words and just kept going.
“From first words to first draft took about four months.
“I learned that I could write, not to say write well, but that I could complete a novel with some degree of competence.
“Becoming successful as a writer since then has been a huge surprise – I once met someone through work who did not know I was an author and he was actually in the process of reading one of my books. It was like falling through a mirror.”

Scott used PublishNation to ease his way into self-publishing his debut novel, The Templar Vault.
And he has remained loyal to the company with each of his subsequent novels: The Kaiser’s Navigator, The Templar Tower, The Templar Thief, The Templar Scroll, The Templar Key, and The Templar Shroud.
The partnership continues to produce its own critical and financial success story.

Scott continued: “At first it was a real shocker to see the sales numbers grow.
“The people at PublishNation set up my Amazon Kindle Direct Publishing account for me and I could watch the sales and downloads happening in real time.
“It was really exciting for me, but I feel sorry for my wife who had to listen to me give constant updates.
“Self-publishing gives me everything I want, both creatively and commercial, that’s why the PublishNation way of working really helps.
“I have access to great people across the board, but the final product is all mine. I’d rather do an adequate book that I felt I owned than a better book that was the product of a committee.
“Commercially, it works well for me too. I use Kindle exclusively, so I keep most of the cover price myself.
“I’m sure conventional publishers know a lot about books, but I find that the PublishNation people seem to know a lot about writers and that means a lot more to me.”

From the first few chapters of Templar Vault, Scott has gradually developed his own unique approach to planning and writing each novel.
He explained: “I nearly always have a person in mind that I am writing for – it helps me focus and to think about quality.
“It’s a case of think, scribble, plan, write. I rarely read the scribbles but need to go through that stage to work things out.
“Once I start, it often goes off in ways I had never expected, especially when a character starts speaking.
“For me, writing means completing something and that means watching the wordcount.
“I have a ‘working’ file and a ‘manuscript’ file.
“When I finish a scene, I copy paste it into the manuscript and watch the wordcount change – that’s my little checkpoint.
“I passed the 10,000 word point on my latest book this week and that felt good.”

All of Scott Chapman’s novels are available on Amazon.

Creating that perfect character is something every author aspires to. While several have succeeded in recent years, finding that all-important protagonist who will appeal to almost everyone remains one of the holy grails of modern fiction-writing.

One author who can lay claim to having found all the ingredients that work is Jeff Kinney. The 47-year-old creator, illustrator, and author of the Diary of a Wimpy Kid series has sold more than 200 million books over the past 12 years. And sales of the hugely popular titles show no signs of slowing down.

At the heart of Kinney’s success is none other than the Wimpy Kid himself, Gregory Heffley. It’s fair to say every teenager has a bit of Greg in them – awkward, paranoid, mischievous and, at times, totally dishonest. There’s often a lack of logic to his thinking, a constant need for attention, and there’s also the love/hate relationship with his family. And it’s all these faults that make him so appealing to so many readers of different ages.

Jeff, who is working on his 15th Diary, has plenty of advice for anyone wanting to follow in his footsteps.

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

“First, I’d encourage an aspiring author or illustrator to try to think of an original idea, and then nurture it. It can take years to develop a winning idea, but it’s worth it!

Second, try to write a short story in the style of a writer you admire because when you imitate style, it helps you to understand how they did what they did.

Then, you can add this to your toolkit and use it as you develop your own style.

Finally, find a person who can give you honest criticism.”

Where do you get the ideas for your characters?

“The Heffley family is very loosely based on my own family. Greg is made up of all my worst parts from adolescence.

I do strive to remember funny things from my childhood, then I put those memories in the fiction blender and they sometimes wind up in the books.”

Did you always want to be a writer?

“No, I actually grew up wanting to be a newspaper cartoonist, but nobody would syndicate my work. I finally had success when I snuck my comics into books.”

What made you decide to write books for kids?

“The first Wimpy Kid book was published in 2007. I worked on Wimpy Kid for eight years before I felt ready to show it to anyone. All that time, I thought I was writing one giant manuscript – approximately 1,300 pages – for adults. It was meant to be a sort of reflection on what it was like to be in middle school.

When I found an editor who liked the material, I was told that instead, what I had written was a children’s series – NOT a book for adults.”

How long does it take you to write a book?

“It takes about nine months to create a new Wimpy Kid book. Six months to come up with all the ideas/jokes – I need 350 per book – one month to write it, and two months to illustrate.”

Lee Child is one of modern literature’s most unlikely success stories – because he ignores the rules and writes just for himself.

If this world-famous sought-after author told you he doesn’t plan a single plot and has always ignored advice being offered, would you believe him?

Only picking up the pen after being made redundant from his job with Granada TV, James Grant has gone on to become one of the biggest-selling authors of the 21st century.
Under the pseudonym of Lee Child, he has sold more than 100 million novels around the world, had his books turned into blockbuster movies, and he continues to collect award after award.

So, you would expect the Jack Reacher creator to have had at least a loose plan on where his books were going and where they would take him.
But, surprisingly he rarely thinks beyond the next page.

To mark the anniversary of being made redundant, on every September 1 Grant will sit down with a blank page and somehow turn out yet another best-seller.
Drifting between first- and third-person narratives, each new novel is just as successful as the previous one.
But, what is the secret to becoming one of the most highly-anticipated novelists?

Grant’s main tip for new authors is to ignore advice and write the book you want to read.

My honest answer is ignore advice because it’s got to be your product. It’s got to be an organic product with a vital, vivid integrity of its own and you’ll never get that if you’re worried about what other people are telling you to do.

I write exclusively for the reader. I’m not interested in winning prizes or critical acclaim, I just want to give readers a few good days of entertainment. Happily, I’ve got a lot of readers but I can’t unconceptualise an idea – so I come back to myself. I am the reader. I write one book a year and I read hundreds. But you never find a book that’s 100% what you want, so you have to write it yourself.

In general, writers, especially beginner writers, are very nervous and insecure. People have a clear idea of what they want to do and there are rules that aren’t rules – they’re just advice, and sometimes bad advice. Showing not telling is one face of bad advice. There is no reason why you can’t tell something in a plain, declarative style. Classic post-war thriller writers just sat down and told a story, and the idea that you should not is very twisted and forces people to pass on information in a very weird way. My main point is always to avoid advice. Books only work if they are vivid and organic and have one imagination in charge.

But thankfully the author of such number one bestsellers as Killing Floor, Tripwire, A Wanted Man, and The Midnight Line does offer up a few suggestions for following in his footsteps.
I try to do about 1500 words in a day. That is comfortable for me. It’s a lot less than some people do. If I’m pushing it, which I usually am, 2000 words, because by the time you get close to the deadline you’ve frittered a lot of time away and done other things, so I’m usually in a bit of a rush.

To be a great writer, you need to be a great reader.

You’ve got to have read thousands of books and then you internalise that rhythm. You internalise the grammar of cliff hangers and pace and so on. I just start at the beginning, make it up, and somehow get to the end.

As with most other leading novelists, Grant acknowledges that characters are key.

It’s all about people, it’s about character. If the plot works well, that’s a bonus, but it’s the characters that people remember. Here’s my classic example that I always quote: the Lone Ranger. Everybody in the world has heard of the Lone Ranger. Nobody in the world could tell you a single storyline from a Lone Ranger show.
But don’t get too close to your creations.

At that point writers start to get defensive and feel a bit inhibited about putting in the bad stuff and negative characteristics. When I started writing, I always made sure I kept Reacher slightly at arm’s length. Ideally, I want me to like him a little less than you’re going to like him and that keeps him fresh. It keeps him honest, warts and all. It turns him into a real person, rather than a cartoon character.

With so many budding novelists vying for attention, Grant is also quick to highlight the need for a powerful opening to your book.

If you’re ever going to submit a book for publication, obviously some people start reading it. So, the first line, the first paragraph, the first page has got to be utterly compelling. If you can do that, then you’re home and dry because that’s what people want. They want a book where they pick it up and they’re instantly hooked.
Lee Child’s latest Jack Reacher novel, Blue Moon, is now available.

Advice for improving your writing can be found far and wide. An array of influential linguists, creative writing tutors and, of course, published authors, all freely offer their opinions on crafting the perfect sentence, paragraph, chapter and novel.

But, here at PublishNation, to avoid the constant contradictions, we thought we’d step back in time and learn from one of the storytelling masters. Eric Arthur Blair, or George Orwell to you and me, is widely accepted as one of the most important writers of the 20th century.

A Clergyman’s Daughter, Animal Farm, Nineteen-Eighty-Four and Keep the Aspidistra Flying are regarded as being among some of the best novels ever written in the English language. Orwell’s essays, journalism, and non-fiction books, such as Down and Out in Paris and London or The Road to Wigan Pier, also offer lucid prose and lasting reflections of social history.

Orwell, though, was a teacher as well as a writer, and in his essay Politics and the English Language, he produced six golden rules for every writer to follow.

More than 70 years on, Orwell’s prescriptions for penning perfect sentences and paragraphs are as relevant as ever.

1. Orwell could identify superfluous words at a mile – if it’s possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.

2. According to Orwell, interesting developments within any story rely on the verbs – never use the passive where you can use the active.

3. He was also a great proponent of keeping it simple – never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or jargon if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.

4. And always keep it original – never use a cliché, metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you often hear or see in print.

5. Orwell was never impressed by lengthy words that don’t belong – never use a long word where a short one will do.

6. Orwell’s sixth and final rule speaks for itself – break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.

In essence, Orwell championed precise and clear language as the foundations for any piece of writing.

He also offered recommendations on tutoring yourself to produce the type of sentences that made him so successful in his writing.

On sitting in front of, not a typewriter anymore, but a laptop, the scrupulous writer, in every sentence that they write, according to Orwell, will ask themselves at least four questions:
What am I trying to say?
What words will express it?
What image or idiom will make it clearer?
Is this image fresh enough to have an effect?

Orwell stated, “One can often be in doubt about the effect of a word or a phrase, and one needs rules that one can rely on when instinct fails.”

To be on the safe side, he added a further two rules to consider when reading back your original draft:
Could I put it more shortly?
Have I said anything that is avoidably ugly?

George Orwell was only 46 when he died in 1950. As well as leaving a remarkable legacy of published works, he also left some valuable advice for all of us wanting to improve our writing.

Writing a novel isn’t easy – just ask Robert Harris.
But the author of Fatherland, Enigma and The Ghost has established himself as one of the world’s best-selling novelists through hard work and following a few golden rules.
The former journalist believes that valuable advice from three fellow writers has, for him at least, made the process of writing fiction all the more pleasurable and successful.
Harris, who has also written Pompeii, Archangel, and Munich, believes the wisdom of American novelist John Irving is his number one golden rule, and one that shouldn’t be ignored by any aspiring writer.
And he confesses it was the rule of planning that got him over the finishing line with his debut, Fatherland.
Harris explained: “John Irving maintains that any writer who embarks on a novel without knowing how it is going to end is a fool and a knave.
“A novel, he argues, recounts something that has already happened – therefore you cannot just make it up as you go along.
“This practical approach had a profound effect on me.
“Indeed, it enabled me to complete my first novel, Fatherland which, in classic rookie fashion, had trailed to a baffled halt somewhere around page 50.”
While planning the storyline is vital, according to Harris, finding your voice and style ahead of typing that first word can be just as important.
The advice offered by E L Doctrow still rings true with the Cambridge graduate.
Harris continued: “It was EL Doctorow who said you have to find the voice that allows you to write what you want to write.
“It’s a writer’s dirty little secret that language precedes the intentions.
“The shape and style of a novel is determined by the thought you give it beforehand – that the way you approach your material is at least as important, maybe more important, than the material itself.”
While Harris continues to observe the rules of plotting and planning, he admits a third rule, offered up by Philip Roth.
He concludes: “Have courage and remember the words of Philip Roth in 2003.
“Roth observed, when looking back on his career on his 70th birthday, that what you develop is a tolerance for your own crudeness.
“He said, stay with your crap and it will get better, and come back every day and keep going.”
Robert Harris’s new novel The Second Sleep is published by Hutchinson in September 2019.

Writing a good blurb is one of the most important ways to attract people to your book and encourage them to buy it.

Here, you can learn some tips on how to create a blurb that will help readers understand what your book is about and why they should buy it.

Firstly, what’s a blurb?
A blurb is a short description of your book.

Where does it go?
A blurb is often printed on the back cover of books, but much more importantly, it’s also the Product Description on Amazon and the other retailers.

What does it do?
You only have a few seconds to impress readers, so a blurb must quickly catch their attention and make them want to find out more.

How big should it be?
Ideally, up to 150 words.

What do I write?
Make it enticing. It’s not a book report, it’s an advertisement.
Keep it simple and avoid introducing too many characters as too many names can be confusing.
Stick with universal themes that people quickly identify with, like:
Love,
Revenge,
Desire,
Greed,
Mystery.

Well-written blurbs are easy on the eye, so avoid technical jargon and big words. Keep job titles as simple as possible, so teacher is good, but Educational Fulfillment Co-ordinator is bad!

How much of my plot should I reveal?
A good blurb is a bit of a tease!
People love a mystery and always want to know more. Introduce some intrigue so readers become curious. Give away enough to make people ask questions, but not enough to find answers – unless they buy your book!

Do I write about myself in the blurb?
No, unless it is relevant to the book content. Author information is usually separate.

Should I add good reviews to the blurb?
Yes, if you have them.
Choose the best parts of good reviews for your book, then add a line or two before and after your blurb.
If your book is part of a series, it’s good to mention this, but only towards the end of the blurb as you’ll want to use the beginning to ‘sell’ this book.

Need more help?
Imagine describing your book to someone you didn’t know and you only have a few minutes to do it.
What would you say?
What would attract people’s attention?
How would you make them curious?
Can you describe the characters easily?
What’s interesting and likeable about your book?

Narrow that down and you’ll end up with a great blurb

I give up! Can I get a professional to write a blurb for me?
Yes, contact PublishNation for details.

There are probably few people who haven’t heard of George R. R. Martin, and if they haven’t heard of him, they will almost certainly be familiar with award-winning hit TV series Game of Thrones. In 1991 Martin began writing a fantasy novel, and over the years that followed, he produced several sequels that turned into the epic fantasy series A Song of Ice and Fire, which became an international bestseller. Then in 2011, American TV network HBO picked up his series and created Game of Thrones for TV and Martin suddenly found himself in the spotlight as it quickly became one of the world’s most popular TV shows to date.
The huge question that any would-be writer wants to know, of course, is just what is it about how Martin writes that people find so appealing? And how can they write something so convincing and compelling that people just won’t be able to get enough of it?
Here are a few tips from the great author himself on writing.

Don’t let your imagination limit you
As anyone who has read one of Martin’s books will tell you, he is fond of characters. In fact, the phrase ‘A cast of thousands’ might spring to mind. But, this is one of those things that really draws you into his work. The author says that he always knew he wanted his stories to be big and complex; before writing novels, he wrote TV scripts and the most common criticism he received was that his stories were just too big with a cast far beyond the budget available.
So, if you want lots of characters, go ahead and create them and give them fascinating identities and complex plots. Just remember, the more characters you have, the harder it might be to keep track of them, so your writing will have to be clear and the characters well-defined.

Not all writing days are good days
It’s great to have a goal when it comes to your writing and most successful authors will tell you to write a little every day and create a pattern to your work. However, this isn’t always possible, and if you can’t force yourself to be productive every day, then you shouldn’t force it. As they say, tomorrow is a new day.
Even the best authors will have bad days when it comes to writing – days when the words simply won’t flow and the ideas don’t work out as hoped. Martin himself says he has days when he struggles, and when he gets to the point where he has written only a few sentences over the course of half a day, he recognises that it is time to stop for the day and do something else in order to recharge the creative batteries.

You can borrow from history
While Martin’s novels are fantasy, there is a strong and identifiable theme of actual history that runs through them – in this case, medieval. Using history as a basis for your novel can offer you a great backdrop to work against. It can also give you a great supply of details that you may, or may not, wish to include. Martin prefers to mix and match his history and manipulate some of the details to fit in with his plots and characters.

Write from a point of view of truth
It’s always important to write from a position of truth. That doesn’t necessarily mean you should write about incidents that have happened in your own life, but rather that you should use real-life emotions to draw on for inspiration. Regardless of the genre you choose for your writing, at some point emotions will play a part in the book, and the best way to get these across is to think about situations you have experienced, emotions that you know.
It’s important to write about what you know, but this doesn’t mean you actually need to write about your own life events. Just tap into your own emotional feelings, remember how you felt when you experienced those emotions, and put it all into your writing. Giving your characters this type of emotional depth can really help your readers to connect with them.
A word of warning though – grief is a powerful emotion, so while using those real-life emotions to help you write is a good thing, be sure that you don’t overdo it.

Violence can be…violent
If you’re going to write about violence, then put in enough detail to take your reader into that setting. If you choose to write about warfare, especially when you draw on a real historical event, then you need to paint the right picture. Weapons were not just for show. War is horrific, bloody and ugly – people got maimed and left for dead – so write about the believable aftermath of war. Don’t leave out the necessary details because you believe your readers would prefer it that way.

Avoid fantasy clichés
If you want to write fantasy books, then you will probably be familiar with the genre and, therefore, the clichés that exist. The biggest of these is ‘Evil’ represented by a Dark Lord. Everything about him is dark: he lives in a dark palace in a dark land, he wears dark garments, and he is surrounded by ugly dark minions. While representing evil in this way can be very visual for the reader, it can grow to become something that they expect. Stray from the clichés and make your characters that little bit unexpected, give your reader something to think about. Martin’s own villains embody this idea – the tall and fair Lannisters would traditionally represent the good, and they are certainly not the nicest of people.

Self-editing
George R. R. Martin has a great belief in self-editing, and with a series of novels that contain as many characters as A Song Of Ice and Fire, it’s not hard to understand why. When there are plenty of opportunities to do so, going off on a tangent or getting embroiled in subplots that add nothing to a novel is all too easy. Self-editing forms an essential part of the writer’s creative process, allowing him to go back through what he has already written and trim the text, ensuring his plot is as tight as possible. Martin prefers to trim back on his word count rather than cutting entire scenes or even chapters. Keeping the story tight keeps the reader engaged, which is the primary goal.
Use the advice of George R. R. Martin to help improve your own writing and perhaps you’ll find a bit of that same success!