CHATTERBUZZ: Writing Advice from Trisha Ashley

 Whether or not you read adult chick lit, you must have heard about Trisha Ashley, one of Britain's most popular writer of romantic comedies. And they are fantastic books, trust me, even if they aren't YA. I especially loved Sowing Secrets, which was absolutely delicious!

I'm honoured to have Trisha on my blog today. She's here to enlighten us with some writing advice. Trust her to know -- she's almost a veteran in the industry!

Trisha Ashley is the author of thirteen novels including A Winter’s Tale, which was a Times bestseller and also shortlisted for the 2009 Melissa Nathan award for romantic comedy.  Her latest book is Wedding Tiers and her next, Chocolate Wishes, comes out in March this year.  Visit her website where you can email her, join her newsletter group or leave a message in her guestbook.

The three Golden Tips for aspiring/upcoming writers:

1)  This may sound very obvious, but it has to be said: writers write, it is in the nature of the job description.  You write every day and feel guilty and bereft if you have finished a novel and not started on the next.  So, don’t just think about it, do it. Get in the writing habit, if only for ten or fifteen minutes a day and then build on that.  However busy you are, if you really want to write you will find the time.

2)  You will know your main characters are three dimensional when they start having conversations with each other in your head.  This is usually just as you are trying to go to sleep and you must switch the light on and immediately write down what they are saying, because you will have entirely forgotten it by morning.

3)  Read a lot of recently published novels in the genre you are aiming at yourself.  Consider what length they are and what the readers of that kind of book expect from a novel.

4) Read Stephen King’s book called On Writing, and Natalie Goldberg’s Writing Down the Bones for inspiration.

What inspires you to keep writing?   

I’d like to be flip here and say my bank overdraft!  However, I write because there is always something I am burning to write about, new ideas to explore.

What’s the easiest thing about writing and what’s the hardest?  

The hardest part has to be when you are just setting out with a novel, before it gains its own momentum – it feels a bit like pushing a rock up a mountain with your nose.  Then suddenly it’s rolling down the other side and you’re running to keep up with it!

Five random things about yourself...     

1) I read cookbooks when I'm dieting.

2) I am City & Guilds qualified to professional level to make stained glass windows.

3) My dancing resembles a puppet in urgent need of restringing.

4) My favourite flower is the rose.

5) I was first published at the age of eleven, with a poem in my local newspaper.

Thanks so much for being here, Trisha. We wish you many more bestsellers to come and a great writing life (which I'm certain you already have. Hey, writers do have the best lives, don't they?).

Go check out her books, guys :D