"You’re the writer! Make the words do what you want; don’t be frightened of them."
Dearest Writers,
There are times when a blank page can be the most frightening thing in the world. You stare at the empty screen or gaze at the bright, white page and wonder how on earth you can ever fill it.
When I feel like this my editor tells me, “Don’t get it right, get it written!”
The scene is in your head. You know what’s supposed to happen but for some reason putting it down in words seems like the hardest thing in the world.
But it’s not. It’s really easy, so long as you don’t get scared. Just write! Start and don’t stop until you’ve described every bit in your head. And don’t worry whether it’s any good. You can worry about that later.
Simply start writing. Start in the middle if it helps, or start at the end and work your way backwards. Try making a list of everything you want to include in the scene. I bet you’ll find yourself filling in the gaps in your list with more and more detail simply because it’ll be impossible to resist describing the wonderful scene that’s crowding your imagination. And don’t worry if the words tumble out messily or clumsily.
Once it’s written, you can change it, improve it, make it sound better. You’re the writer! Make the words do what you want; don’t be frightened of them.
Kate Cary (Erin Hunter)
Kate was born in the Black Country, somewhere outside Birmingham and wrote her first book when she was four. It wasn’t very good, or long, or well spelt, but she was proud of it.
School started out easy but grew harder as her teachers became less interested in what Kate could imagine and more interested in what she could remember. But she was a good girl and learned everything they asked her to until she found herself at London University. There Kate studied History. One tutor commented that, to be any good at the subject, she would have to try very hard and for a very long time. She proved him wrong by not trying at all and getting a good BA and then a better MA. Though she lingered at the university as long as she could, when the grants ran out she still had not figured out what she should do for a living. Kate's love of writing had never left her. Studying History had just been an excuse to write stories (History provides great plots and characters), so she decided to try becoming a Proper Writer and wrote and wrote and eventually an editor noticed her and decided she was publishable.
Meanwhile, Kate settled down and had a son, Joshua. And all the time she kept writing, and she will carry on doing so as long as there are other worlds to describe.
