{"id":114,"date":"2016-09-21T05:30:00","date_gmt":"2016-09-21T05:30:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dev.shortstorydayafrica.org\/?p=114"},"modified":"2016-09-21T05:30:00","modified_gmt":"2016-09-21T05:30:00","slug":"writetips-from-the-2015-short-story-day-africa-winners","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/?p=114","title":{"rendered":"#WriteTips: The 2015 Short Story Day Africa Prize Winners."},"content":{"rendered":"<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
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Cat Hellisen<\/a> <\/strong><\/h3>\n

– Don’t be afraid to push yourself beyond your comfort zone when it comes to writing.<\/p>\n

– Write for yourself; edit for your readers.<\/p>\n

– Work the way that works for you, not the way Random Experts tell you is the One True Way.<\/p>\n

– It’s okay to not be a writer and have a real life.<\/p>\n

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Alex Latimer<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

– Take a writing course or find someone to mentor you. It\u2019ll save you a lot of time.<\/p>\n

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Mark Winkler<\/a><\/strong><\/h3>\n

–  Plan. You\u2019d be crazy to set out on a marathon without knowledge of the route, or how long it\u2019s going to be. You simply can\u2019t sit down and try to channel your inner Hemingway without the vaguest notion of where you\u2019re heading.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Then, write with your writing glasses on (these could glitter-rimmed, or a pilot\u2019s goggles, a spy\u2019s Ray-Bans, or a psychopath\u2019s binoculars). Write from beginning to end without concern for typos, loose ends, ugly sentences, laughable dialogue, or word count. If you get stuck, it\u2019s only because you took a wrong decision somewhere. Backtrack until you find it, refer to your plan, fix it, and then fix your writing.<\/span><\/p>\n

– When you think you\u2019re done, rewrite the whole thing \u2013 three, five, a dozen times.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Once you feel you have a reasonably coherent manuscript in your hands, walk away from it. The longer the piece, the longer you should let it rest \u2013 it\u2019s the only way to develop any semblance of objectivity.<\/span><\/p>\n

– When you return to it, put on your editing glasses (sensible, horn-rimmed, thick-lensed). Tighten screws, polish surfaces, iron out lumps, and bin anything that doesn\u2019t build on what you\u2019re trying to achieve.<\/span><\/p>\n

– Once you get to work with an editor, remember that they\u2019re only trying to make your work better. Listen, debate, discuss \u2013 and learn to roll over when necessary. <\/span><\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Cat Hellisen  – Don’t be afraid to push yourself beyond your comfort zone when it comes to writing. – Write for yourself; edit for your readers. – Work the way that works for you, not the way Random Experts tell you is the One True Way. – It’s okay to not be a writer and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[81,58],"tags":[56,53,132],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-insights","category-write-tips","tag-writetips","tag-south-african-writer","tag-water","entry"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/shortstorydayafrica.org\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}