Advice for Novelists (Part 63)

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?"

Roxanne Henke: Actually, I’d say two things.

1. Read.
Analyze good books. What makes them resonate with you? Pull apart the not-so-great books. What would you do to make that book sing?

2. Write.
Day-dreaming about writing isn’t writing. You need to sit in a chair, in front of a keyboard and put words on paper (or a computer screen). Only by writing will you find your “voice” and tell your stories. I’ll say it again, read and write.

--Roxanne Henke, author of Learning to Fly, the Coming Home to Brewster series, and more. Visit her website here.