Advice for Novelists (Part 34)

C.J. Darlington, co-founder of TitleTrakk, is running a great series on her blog: She started a series of blog posts in which industry professionals (editors, agents, publicists, authors, etc.) share their responses to this question:

"If you could say one thing to aspiring novelists, what would you say?"

Author Chris Hopper, says: Read, read, read.

I've learned more about writing after my first book was published than I ever did before. I think that's because I never went to college and I wanted to make sure my craft could be as good as it possibly could once I realized people liked my books. And my thinking was, if I'm critically reading books that I want to emulate, those will be my text books.

I don't just mean passively reading, but actively analyzing; making notes on what works and what doesn't; outlining a book as you read it; studying sentence structure, voice and tone. Read like the author is right there with you. Ask questions. Why did they develop that character like that? What was the thinking behind keeping that piece of the story a secret for so long? Why am I identifying so deeply with this person's emotions?

Read the rest here!

--Christopher Hopper, Author of Rise of The Dibor and The Lion Vrie and recording artist of 9 albums. Visit him online at his website here.

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