• About
  • GCA and the need for funds
  • How to follow Ninevoices
  • Publications
  • Writings

ninevoices

~ Nine writers on reading and writing.

ninevoices

Tag Archives: Follow the instructions

‘How to Write Everything’

18 Monday May 2015

Posted by ninevoices in Books, Comedy, Ed, Read Lately, Writing

≈ Leave a comment

Tags

David Quantick, Eddie Izzard, Follow the instructions, Put the hours in, Sir John Gielgud

David Quantick is a professional writer who has worked in almost every field: journalism, novels, radio and TV scriptwriting, helping Eddie Izzard with his autobiography, etc. He also is a writer for the world’s first internet sitcom. In How to Write Everything he talks about his craft, and if it’s in an area he’s not active in himself he interviews someone who is. The book is written in a humorous style.

His experience in and knowledge of the world of broadcast humour is well demonstrated in his passages about sitcoms, how to structure them, what the myths are etc.

The subjects/chapters are: Introduction, What is Writing?, Ideas and Where They Come From, Books and Publishing, Comedy and Performance, Writing Comedy, Films, Writing a Script and So On, Plays, Journalism, Poetry, Afterword., Bibliography, and Appendix. This last is an obscene anecdote told by Sir John Gielgud – for the text go to http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/John_Gielgud and scroll down to Note 18. In the book it is recorded that it is during the Hamlet soliloquy that the great man unfortunately pauses.

In the Introduction the author states that “I WILL REVEAL THE SECRETS OF WRITING. (Secret Number One: there are no secrets. Wait, come back…)”

There are few technical tips on wordcraft for budding writers in the book, but he does hammer home two general messages:

Put in the hours; and

Read the instructions.

In Chapter 1, for example, he stresses that you should write (every day if possible) and not wait for the Muse to call. Actually doing the writing may indeed encourage the Muse to call. And if there’s a house style for the publication you’re writing for, follow it. Furthermore, deadlines are good for you. They’ll make you do the work.

In Chapter 2, on Where Ideas Come From, his message is Keep Thinking. Ideas come from all directions, but you can help them come by not sitting at your desk just trying to make them come. Write yourself notes whenever a possible idea beckons.

Try your work on friends – as long as they will be critical and won’t just say your work is wonderful.

When trying to get an agent or a publisher interested – good presentation is essential. Follow the instructions on formatting to the letter.

So, there’s no short cut to writing success. Put the hours in is the book’s message.   I think we all feared that that was the case, but it’s salutary to have it emphasised by an experienced professional.

How to Write Everything by David Quantick. Published in 2014 by Oberon Books. ISBN 978-1-78319-103-1  £12-99

 

Subscribe

  • Entries (RSS)
  • Comments (RSS)

Archives

  • June 2022
  • May 2022
  • April 2022
  • March 2022
  • February 2022
  • January 2022
  • December 2021
  • November 2021
  • September 2021
  • August 2021
  • July 2021
  • June 2021
  • May 2021
  • April 2021
  • March 2021
  • February 2021
  • January 2021
  • December 2020
  • November 2020
  • October 2020
  • September 2020
  • August 2020
  • July 2020
  • June 2020
  • May 2020
  • April 2020
  • March 2020
  • February 2020
  • January 2020
  • December 2019
  • November 2019
  • October 2019
  • September 2019
  • August 2019
  • July 2019
  • June 2019
  • May 2019
  • April 2019
  • March 2019
  • February 2019
  • January 2019
  • December 2018
  • November 2018
  • October 2018
  • September 2018
  • August 2018
  • July 2018
  • June 2018
  • May 2018
  • April 2018
  • March 2018
  • February 2018
  • January 2018
  • December 2017
  • November 2017
  • October 2017
  • September 2017
  • August 2017
  • July 2017
  • June 2017
  • May 2017
  • April 2017
  • March 2017
  • February 2017
  • January 2017
  • December 2016
  • November 2016
  • October 2016
  • September 2016
  • August 2016
  • July 2016
  • June 2016
  • May 2016
  • April 2016
  • March 2016
  • February 2016
  • January 2016
  • December 2015
  • November 2015
  • October 2015
  • September 2015
  • August 2015
  • July 2015
  • June 2015
  • May 2015
  • April 2015
  • March 2015
  • February 2015
  • January 2015
  • December 2014
  • November 2014
  • October 2014
  • September 2014
  • July 2014
  • April 2014
  • February 2014
  • October 2013
  • September 2013
  • August 2013
  • July 2013
  • June 2013
  • May 2013
  • April 2013

Categories

  • 2017 Hysteria Writing Competition
  • Adventure
  • Agents
  • Alan Bennett
  • Amazon Self-Publishing Award
  • Art
  • audiobooks
  • Authors
  • Autobiography
    • Claire Tomalin
    • Stephen King
  • Barbara Pym
    • A Glass of Blessings
  • BBC1
  • Bestsellers
  • Biography
  • Book etiquette
  • Books for Christmas
  • Bookshops
  • Bridport Longlist Published
  • Cecily
  • challenge
  • Characters
  • Children's books
  • Christopher Fielding
  • Classics
  • clergy
  • Collaboration
  • Colm Tóibín
  • Comedy
  • Coming up
  • Competition
  • Competition Win
  • Competition Winners
  • Competitions to Enter
  • Crime
  • criticism
  • Dame Hilary Mantel, Reith Lectures 2017, Historical Fiction
  • Dialogue
  • Drama
  • eBooks
  • Elizabeth Gaskell
  • Exeter Novel Prize
  • Factual writing
  • Fame
  • feedback
  • Festivals
  • Film
  • Finding an Agent
  • Finishing that novel
  • Forty-six years
  • Fowey Festival Adult Short Story Competition. Daphne du Maurier
  • Genres
  • Getting down to it
  • Getting Published
  • Girls Gone By Publishers
  • Good Housekeeping Novel Competition
  • Grammar
  • Halloween Writing Competition
  • Heard lately
  • heroes
  • heroines
  • Historia
  • Historical
  • Historical Novels
    • book reviews
  • History
  • Homework
  • Horror
  • How to Write a Short Story
  • Humour
  • Hystyeria 6
  • Ideas
  • Imagery
  • Imagination and the Writer
  • Inspiration
  • Jane Austen
  • Jane Austen House Museum
  • L. M. Montgomery
  • Laptops and Coffin Lids
  • Location
  • Lockdown
  • Maggie
  • Management
  • manuscript services
  • Margaret Kirk
  • Marketing
  • McKitterick Prize
  • Memoir
  • Military
  • Mslexia
  • Mslexia Writer's Diary
  • Myslexia Magazine
  • Mystery
  • Mythology
  • Newly Published
  • Newly Published Author
  • News
    • Competitions
    • Obituary
  • Ninevoices
    • Anita
    • Christine
    • Ed
    • Elizabeth
    • Jane
    • Maggie
    • Sarah
    • Tanya
    • Valerie
  • Ninevoices' winning short story
  • Observations
    • Grammar
    • Words
  • On now
  • Orion Publishing
  • Our readers
  • Plot
  • PMRGCAuk
  • Poetry
  • Police Procedurals
  • Publish Your Book
  • Publishing
  • Punctuation
  • Puppy Dogs
  • radio
  • Read Lately
    • Articles
    • Books
  • Reading
  • rejection
  • religion
  • Research
  • reviews
  • RNA Learning Programme
  • Romance
  • Romantic Novelists' Association
  • Sarah Dawson
  • Satire
  • Science fiction
  • Seamus Heaney
  • Seen lately
  • Shadow Man
  • Short stories
  • Short Story Competition
  • Social Media
  • Spelling
  • Sport
  • Spotlight Adventures in Fiction
  • Structure
  • Style
  • submissions
  • Synopsis Writing
  • Technology
  • Television
  • The Bridport
  • The Bridport, Lucy Cavendish, Bath, Yeovil, Winchester
  • The Daily Mail Crime Novel Competition
  • The Impostor Syndrome
  • The Jane Austen House Museum
  • The London Magazine Novel Competition, Henshaw Press, Writing Magazine, Writers' Forum
  • The Mirror & the Light
  • The Servant, Getting Published
  • The Times
  • Theatre
  • Thomas Hardy
  • Thrillers
  • Translation
  • Travelling hopefully
  • Uncategorized
  • Valerie
  • villains
  • Vocabulary
  • Volunteering
  • War
  • Websites
  • Westerns
  • Windsor Fringe Kenneth Branagh Award for New Drama Writing
  • Winning Competitions
  • Winning Writing Competitions
  • Wolf Hall
  • Words
  • Writercraft
  • Writerly emotions
  • Writers' block
  • Writers' Forum
  • Writers' groups
  • Writing
    • Column
    • Drama
    • Fiction
    • Poetry
    • Stories
  • Writing Competitions to Enter
  • Writing conventions
  • Writing games
  • Writing Historical Fiction
  • Yeovil First Novel Competition

Meta

  • Register
  • Log in

Blog at WordPress.com.

Privacy & Cookies: This site uses cookies. By continuing to use this website, you agree to their use.
To find out more, including how to control cookies, see here: Cookie Policy
  • Follow Following
    • ninevoices
    • Join 3,918 other followers
    • Already have a WordPress.com account? Log in now.
    • ninevoices
    • Customize
    • Follow Following
    • Sign up
    • Log in
    • Report this content
    • View site in Reader
    • Manage subscriptions
    • Collapse this bar