Write where your heart is

For as long as I’ve been editing, authors have been asking me, “What should I write next?” Sometimes they’re conflicted because they want to write book X, but readers are screaming for book Y. Sometimes another genre is selling big and they wonder if they should change genres. Sometimes they just have so many plots and characters running wild in their heads they don’t know where to start.

My answer never changes. I always reply, “What is your passion? What do YOU want to write right now?”

Because the truth of the matter is this. When an author is passionate about her story, when she’s writing what she wants to write, the book will be better. That passion will flow through from the heart to the keyboard, reflecting itself in the words, and the book will glow with life and authority.

Now okay, if it’s not the most popular genre, maybe the author will never sell like JK Rowling. But then, very few authors do. However the author will have the confidence of knowing that the book she wrote is the best book she could have written at that time.

Australian erotic romance author EL James has recently hit the big time in the USA with her book, “Fifty Shades of Grey”. This is a book that’s had almost as many really bad reviews as really excellent ones. That’s because the author’s passion has engendered passion in the readers. In an interview she said she originally didn’t write the book to be published but to express what she felt deep inside. That’s what shows on the page. That’s what is selling an unknown author and an unknown book.

Helen Woodall

helen.woodall@gmail.com

Helen is available to line edit and/ or content edit fiction and non-fiction. Rates on application.