TOP WRITING TIPS FROM RUTH FIGGEST

1. Find some sympathy for your characters or write about different characters. You’re going to spend time with them.

2. Perfectionism can be paralysing. If it should turn up at your door, tell it to go away. You haven’t the time to indulge in perfectionism, you’re busy writing.

3. Remember that novels need to be complex, but not necessarily complicated.

4. When you reach a lull in your writing practice, don’t panic. Inspiration often comes in waves and it’s all part of the process. Go wherever your interest and energy lie until something changes.

5. Be generous with your writing self. Daydreaming about your project counts as work. In those moments, allow yourself to consider what possibilities lie ahead.

6. Trust yourself and in your first draft give yourself some room to explore what you want to convey. Editing your work is more productive once you understand what you’re producing, and it might take time to discover that. For this reason, you’ll probably make better editing choices once you’ve got some way into a book.

Ruth Figgest is a novelist and short story writer. Her short stories have been shortlisted and commended for the Bridport Prize several times and in 2013 her short story The Coffin Gate was broadcast on Radio 4. Magnetism, her debut novel, was published by Myriad in 2018. She teaches on the two-year Creative Writing Programme on Thursday evenings at the Towner Eastbourne which starts in October. Interested in finding out more? She's running taster sessions in July and September.