There are several things that are useful to a writer.
They are, in no particular order:
A library card - I can't afford to buy all the books I want/need to read. I don't suppose too many of us can.
A desk of your own - you need to be able to get to it whenever you want.
Writing implements - whatever form these may take. I still write with pen and paper - usually in bed late at night when the story won't leave me alone and the only way I can get to sleep is to get it out of my head and into a notebook. Everything ends up on the computer though.
Time - grab it when and where you can.
And Lists - lists of books to read, ideas for other stories, character's names etc.
My favourite list/collection, and one I recommend every writer starts, is favourite first lines.
I came across the best first line the other day. It's from The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper:
"It was three minutes past midnight, and the dead wouldn't leave me alone. "
If you don't want to keep reading after that you have no imagination.
I love the first lines from Before I Die by Jenny Downham, even though it's actually two lines:
“I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger.”
Start your own and keep them in a journal, in a drawer, in your desk. They can provoke all sorts of thinking when you are stalled, but they are also just great one-line poems.
They are, in no particular order:
A library card - I can't afford to buy all the books I want/need to read. I don't suppose too many of us can.
A desk of your own - you need to be able to get to it whenever you want.
Writing implements - whatever form these may take. I still write with pen and paper - usually in bed late at night when the story won't leave me alone and the only way I can get to sleep is to get it out of my head and into a notebook. Everything ends up on the computer though.
Time - grab it when and where you can.
And Lists - lists of books to read, ideas for other stories, character's names etc.
My favourite list/collection, and one I recommend every writer starts, is favourite first lines.
I came across the best first line the other day. It's from The Secret Life of Sparrow Delaney by Suzanne Harper:
"It was three minutes past midnight, and the dead wouldn't leave me alone. "
If you don't want to keep reading after that you have no imagination.
I love the first lines from Before I Die by Jenny Downham, even though it's actually two lines:
“I wish I had a boyfriend. I wish he lived in the wardrobe on a coat hanger.”
Start your own and keep them in a journal, in a drawer, in your desk. They can provoke all sorts of thinking when you are stalled, but they are also just great one-line poems.
Jennifer
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