"Sometimes it seems as if the story I'm going to write already exists, somewhere out there. If I can only sit still and patiently enough, listening intently, watching and waiting, it will come close enough for me to 'hear' the words and 'see' the pictures vividly enough for me to begin writing. The story comes in fragments and glimpses, a series of scenes. Ted Hughes wrote about this process in his poem 'The Thought Fox'. The story comes into being as you write, trusting your instincts, your imagination, the deep and mysterious process of the subconscious. However, this does not mean I spend my time simply sitting at my desk, waiting! It's part of a longer process which happens day by day in my notebook: a daily ritual of writing which is as natural as breathing."
These are my tips on how to bring a story into being this way:
Tip 1: Buy yourself a notebook
It should preferably have plain rather than lined pages and paper thick enough so you can write on both sides with a pen without it showing through: follow your instinct to choose the right colour, size and shape for you. Not too grand – this will make it feel as if every word has to be perfect; this is a book where the writing is entirely for you, and you won't show its contents to anyone. Write every day, freely and without censoring or editing your thoughts, ideas, images, feelings, dreams and wishes. Write about the stories you are reading – you are always reading something, of course – reflecting on what you read, or observe, or think. Write about the ordinary things that happen to you as well as the extraordinary ones. Practise writing about the real world around you: look, listen, touch, smell, taste. Find the right words to describe these things: pay attention. Be precise and detailed. Make this part of your life. This is not about writing stories or poems, but about a process, about connecting to your real self, the part from which writing has to come. It's about finding your voice.
Tip 2: Explore your characters
When several ideas seem to be coming together – for me it's usually a place, a character, and a situation – you know the story is coming closer. This is the story that only YOU can write. Spend time thinking and making more notes about these things. Spend time on each character. What do they look like? Note down details of clothes, shoes, hair, skin, eyes, age, name etc. Next, ask more searching questions: what are they like on the inside? What do they love/hate/ fear? What do they really want? Why? Perhaps they have a secret, or have lost something or someone. What do they dream? An early memory? A special possession? Trust your first thoughts. Put yourself into their shoes for a while: write as if you "are" this person, in the first person.
Tip 3: Where does it take place? Why here?
Do the same process of thinking and making notes about the setting for your story. For me, the setting is more than simply the place where events happen. It adds layers to a story, it establishes an atmosphere or feeling and keeps the story anchored in a physical world so it seems real and believable. The place may even begin to influence the plot – what happens in your story. Choose places you know well, can really "see" and imagine, so that the writing is detailed and accurate. Use all five senses. Go to the place again and listen, watch, smell … write down those things in your notebook. Get into the habit of writing in different places.
Tip 4: Let go
If you plan too rigidly, a story can get stuck because you are shutting off other possible directions it might take. Instead, use the mind-mapping method: take a big sheet of plain paper and write down the ideas you have, all the different possibilities, and keep adding new thoughts and ideas and images as they arrive in your mind, so that these are recorded as possible options. Some of these notes will begin to link up, to make sense as a story. Others don't belong in this story and you can let them go. Keep asking questions about your story and characters. Trust the deep power of your imagination to provide the "answers" you need.
Tip 5: Revise and redraft
Writing a novel is a process that needs a lot of time, patience and quiet determination. No one writes a perfect story first time. You revise and change and get rid of sections or add new scenes. You do this over and over. Redrafting is about re-seeing your story, scene by scene, to make it more vivid for a reader. This is the process of shaping and structuring a story, making it work. The more stories you read, the more you will understand what makes a story satisfying. But there are many different kinds of stories, for different kinds of readers. Write the book you would like to read.
Julia Green's new novel for teens, Bringing the Summer is published by Bloomsbury in May. She is the author of five other novels for teenagers and young adults, plus stories for younger readers. Tilly's Moonlight Fox will be published by Oxford University Press in June. She is the course director for the MA in Writing for Young People at Bath Spa University.
