Natasha Ngan

1. WRITE. It’s so easy to do anything but. So sit your butt down and get those words out.

2. Everything you write can be changed. This is both a daunting and liberating concept. Try and focus more on the liberating side and rest safe in the knowledge that you can edit later. For now, just write.

3. Create a 360 experience for your reader. Utilise each and every sense. Turn your reader into your character’s shadow – no, your character’s heart – and throw them head-first into the words, gasping and laughing and crying with your characters every step of the way. More on 360 writing here.

4. Write for yourself. Only by writing the books you love as a reader will you write books your readers will fall in love with.

5. Do not work in a place where food is within arm’s reach. You will eat it all within five minutes.

6. Listen to the opinions of your beta-readers/friends/agent/editors. It might sting at first, but know when to accept that you could use the help and advice of others. It’ll only make your work better, and in the end that should always be your goal.

7. Write how you work best. There’s so much writing advice out there, and by all means read it (it’s what you’re doing right now!), but don’t be afraid to write the way you find best.

8. Read your work aloud. You’ll notice in an instant if the rhythm is off.

9. Avoid literary snobbery. Yes, 50 Shades and Dan Brown might not have the most beautifully written prose, but there’s something about them that gets readers reading. And that is sort of the whole point, isn’t it?

10. Go with your gut. It just knows.