Our inaugural Discoveries writing development programme is entering its fifth year! It is completely free to enter for unpublished and unagented women writers currently residing in the UK or Ireland. The prize accepts novels in any genre of adult fiction, with entrants invited to submit up to the first 10,000 words of their novel and a synopsis.
Along with Discoveries partner Curtis Brown Creative, we hosted a special event to help entrants get started on their novels, featuring Discoveries Chair of Judges and Women’s Prize Founder Kate Mosse, winner of Discoveries 2024 Niamh Connolly, Discoveries judge and author Dreda Say Mitchell, founder of the Curtis Brown Creative Writing school Anna Davis, and Curtis Brown agent Rosie Pierce.
You can watch the event in full here, or keep reading for some of the panellists’ pearls of wisdom for new writers.
Audience Q:
I have a full time job. How do you recommend carving out the time to write?
Dreda: I wrote my first novel when I was working full-time. I had a very heavy, stressful job that demanded all my time. But once again I said to myself, “I’m committed to doing this. I want to do this, so let me think about my time.” I would get up earlier than usual, even if it was just half an hour that I could spend on the computer.
Audience Q:
If you feel you’re working on something inspired by real life with a fantasy element, how do you navigate turning your life into a work of fiction?
Anna: It’s absolutely fine to draw on life and to fictionalise. You are writing your story and I think many of us draw on life and experience. It’s quite nice to make a distinction between a memoir and a novel. I think it’s good to transform – to think of the potential of a story and not get enmired in your real life so that you feel like you cannot fictionalise.
Audience Q:
I’d like to know the panel’s thoughts on choosing between writing in the first or third person and presenting multiple perspectives – are there any major do’s or don’ts in this area?
Rosie: I think you’ve got to write what works for you and what you’re most comfortable in and what feels like the right voice for the book. I personally love multiple point of view novels but I also read ones that are single. I think if you are doing multiple points of view, what’s really important is making sure that each voice feels really different and that the characters are really clear so you know who’s head you’re in.
Dreda: It’s all about whose story you’re writing, therefore how should that story be told. That’s what I think dictates what route you go in terms of third or first person or multiple perspectives.
Anna: Sometimes people think when they are struggling with story or some other element of what they’re writing, that they can solve it by adding an extra narrative voice. And I would just say, write the story in the way that it is best told.
Kate: There aren’t any do’s and don’ts. The point is: Does it work? – that’s all. You need to listen to your book from the inside out, rather than looking from the outside in.
Audience Q:
What’s the most useful piece of writing advice that you’ve ever been given or have given?
Dreda: I think people suffer from writers’ block very often, that blank page. And I think this was something Graham Greene used to do. When you write something, when you finish, try and write the next couple of lines or the first line of the next passage right there and then, so whenever you are writing next, you’ve already started writing. There is no block.
Rosie: Always thinking about all of the senses at any time in any scene. Not necessarily describing what’s happening to all the senses, but drawing on which one feels most useful for driving the scene.
Anna: Hold on to the thing that is the heart of your novel and is driving you to write it. Write it down on an index card and stick it somewhere where you can see it when you’re working. A novel is long and it’s easy to lose your way and you may need to remind yourself what the thing is that’s actually at the heart of what you’re doing.
Audience Q:
I’m struggling to write humorous dialogue that doesn’t feel forced – what is your advice on writing dialogue that feels natural?
Anna: It’s partly about knowing your characters. If you’re going to generate humour it needs to flow quite naturally from the character who is speaking. Read it aloud.
Dreda: Listening to people, obviously not taking from people but just having an ear. A character might be funny, but it might not even be through the dialogue. It might be some kind of quirk that they have, something that they do in an interaction.
Audience Q:
It mentions in the submissions guidelines that the Discoveries panel is seeking potential over polish. What do you mean by potential?
Anna: If you’ve only written 10 or 20,000 words but you’ve got an idea that you’re really enthusiastic about and haven’t already written a complete draft. If you are in those early stages then still enter because we are looking for something that we feel has energy, has a great idea, has something that can become a really great novel.
Kate: All of us – as writers, agents, publishers – we’re used to reading work that isn’t published. There is that indefinable thing, which is “I want to know some more.”
Rosie: There’s got to be something in it that we’re like, this is good, this is something to build on. Whether that’s a really distinctive and unusual voice that hooks us in straight away, or the central premise of the book is so interesting and original, or a setting that we haven’t been in before. I think a big part of Discoveries is fostering a community of writers that are developing alongside each other.
Dreda: I think what I’m really looking forward to is writing that I just can’t stop reading, that just keeps me going and going. And what keeps me going might be the voice, the writing style, the character that it brings to the fore, the situation, the setting. It’s not about being polished, but something that grips you and grabs you.
