Original subtitles

in this lesson I'll encourage you to

start thinking about the sort of love

story that you'd like to write we'll pin

down your personal style and talk about

the importance of pacing and connecting

with your emotions you're taking this

course because you're interested in

writing a love story so now we need to

decide what sort of Love Story you want

to write because they come in many

different genres have a think back to

some of the films that you absolutely

love to watch Do You Love movies that

make you laugh or do you like ones that

make you cry do you like super sexy

stories or would you rather what happens

in the bedroom stays in the bedroom

perhaps you'd like to write a historical

novel or you'd prefer to write one

that's set in the present day and then

there are also love stories that take

place in a fantasy world or perhaps

you'd rather they stay in the real world

I believe that you should write the sort

of books that you absolutely love to

read so I think it's really important to

pin down what you love the most and then

start thinking about a story that fits

into that genre I would recommend that

you never ever write what you think you

should or what you think will sell

ultimately if you write a book that you

absolutely love then guarantee there

will be readers out there who will love

it too so stay true to yourself be

authentic and hopefully you will have a

long and really happy writing career the

first thing I'm going to talk to you

about in terms a personal style is

tenses because that forms part of your

personal style you can change what tense

you write a book in but obviously if

your first book you need to decide and

you need to stick with it so I always

write in the first person present tense

I love to be rooted in the the immediate

action you know knowing exactly what's

happening when it's happening I like to

be inside the character's head and

experiencing all of the emotions along

with them present tense can give a book

a filmic quality making you feel

completely engaged as you're reading

here's an example from 5 years from now

one of my

books what are you doing I G as van

presses my back against the cold wall my

skin is alive with shocks and Tremors at

the contact his hands are on my wrists

burning scorching he steps forward his

hips pinning me in place I draw a sharp

intake of breath and then his mouth is

on mine okay so that was an example of

present tense but I could have used past

tense which would have been what are you

doing I gasped as van pressed my back

against the cold wall my skin was alive

with shocks and Tremors at the contact

his hands were on my wrists burning

scorching he stepped forward his hips

pinning me in place I drew a sharp

intake of breath and then his mouth was

on mine okay so you can see the

difference you know there's there's

present tense which is my skin is alive

with shocks or past tense my skin was

alive with shocks so as you can see

present tense is already immediate and

you know quite filmic you feel like

you're there experiencing it as the

characters are but past tense is

actually the more common tense in novel

writing so once you've decided whether

or not you prefer present or past tense

and it's a really good idea just to try

and write a sentence or write a few

paragraphs trying out the two different

tenses to see see what feels most

natural to you but also you know have a

look at the sort of books that you

absolutely love cuz chances are those

books will be the tents that you you

know that you choose to end up writing

with but once you have decided your

tense you need to stick to it because

that's such a rookie mistake when you're

writing your book to change tenses

halfway through sometimes I even still

finding myself doing that when I'm

talking about flashbacks I'm not quite

sure whether or not to use you know past

tense or but anyway all I'm saying is

just make sure you choose your tense and

stick with it

we've talked about tenses past or

present now you need to also think about

perspective so I like using first person

because I like being inside the

character's head but you could use third

person and that again is probably more

common so I could have said Nell gasped

as van pressed her back against the cold

wall and then I could have said her skin

was alive with shocks and Tremors at the

contact his hands were on her wrists

burning scorching he stepped forward his

hips pinning her in place so that is

told from third person perspective and

some people prefer to have that little

element of distance so they can also you

know look at other things that might be

happening they might like to go to the

perspective of a different character for

example whereas with first person you're

pretty much rooted with that character I

don't recommend that you do third person

present tense cuz I think that sounds

really weird which would be Nell's skin

is alive with shocks and Tremors at the

contact his hands are on n's wrists

burning scorching it's too present and

too immediate I think for me but you

know you must write the book that you

love and you need to find out what works

most naturally for you I discovered

after I'd written quite a few books that

actually some of my favorite books use

first person present tense and in fact I

think possibly all of Colleen Hoover's

books are all first person present tense

and I like the way that it makes me feel

really deeply connected to the

characters and you know being able to

experiencing everything that they are

experiencing as they're experiencing it

so that's probably why I'm drawn to

write in that same way but then I also

write emotional love stories so you know

my books are packed full of emotion and

you know they're not necessarily

light-hearted or anything like that so

you might find that a little bit of

distance is better for the sort of story

that you want to write so you just need

to find your personal style and then

like I say stick with it one word of

warning if you do decide to use first

person present tense be really careful

at pacing don't bore your reader with

mundane details like I open the door I

close the door that is so so boring to

read you need to keep it paced keep your

story moving forward and then you won't

have a

problem so you know that bit that I said

about finding your tense and then

sticking with it there are exceptions to

the rule sometimes if your book is

broken up into different sections then

you might find that you want to tell

something from a different perspective

or from a different tense and in this

case with 5 years from now still the

same book on the very first chapter and

then the second chapter I was writing

from the perspective of my main

character being a child and I thought it

would be far too too restrictive for me

to be inside the head of a 5-year-old

girl trying to explain what she's seeing

and for the reader to be reading from

her perspective and therefore me not

being able to set the scene or describe

the surroundings so I actually decided

just for these first two chapters to

change perspective and tense so instead

of saying there is a boy on my bed which

it could have been you know could have

worked I say there was a boy on n's bed

so you can do that you can change the

tenses if it works for the story but

just on the whole the general rule is

find which tense you're going to use and

stick to it now I'm going to talk about

the importance of connecting with your

emotions it is so so important that you

are feeling everything that your

characters are feeling as you're writing

about it I once saw Adele singing

Someone Like You live on stage and she

had tears in her eyes because she was so

connected to her emotions and the

feelings that she felt when she was

writing that song I would like you to be

just as connected to your emotions when

you come to write if you're writing a

funny scene I hope you're laughing if

you're writing a had scene I really hope

that there were tears pouring down your

face because if you're not connected to

your emotions then your readers

ultimately won't feel that emotion

pouring onto the page and they're not

going to get any of those feelings when

they read it when I write I am feeling

it all like I cannot stop crying if I'm

writing a really sad scene in fact there

was this one moment where my husband

walked in on me when I was writing a sad

scene from 5 years from now the book

that I've just been talking about and it

was a horrendous scene but I was just

sobbing I was absolutely crying in fact

he caught a video of it because he

wanted me to have a record of how much

emotion I poured into my books when

you're writing especially if you're

writing a sad scene then you need to go

somewhere really quiet undisturbed by

other people and really manage to feel

it all because there's nothing more

distracting than having your husband

walking in when you're sobbing and

pulling out his camera phone so don't do

that I've talked about the importance of

feeling connected to your emotions

obviously there are always going to be

times when you don't feel connected you

will always hit stumbling blocks but on

those occasions you know just take a

break from writing because there's no

point in writing if you're not feeling

it because guaranteed your readers won't

feel it either so take a break go for a

walk listen to some music watch a movie

get inspired again okay so um and then

hopefully when you come back and

especially if you're reading a book or

or something that is a book about the

sort of emotions that you're trying to

capture then hopefully you'll be feeling

it still and you can harness that

emotion I write almost in a method

acting kind of way like I genuinely feel

like I'm experiencing what the what the

characters are are experiencing as I'm

writing it so I really hope that you can

feel like that too and like I say just

get inspired by other things if you

can't get a little bit of a helping hand

with a sad movie or or something like

that another thing you need to decide on

before you start writing a book is what

the timeline's going to be is it going

to be set in the present day or is it

going to be set in the past if it's set

in the present day it's probably a lot

easier than it is to write a book that's

set in the past if you do write a book

that's set in the past then you need to

make sure it's authentic and realistic

and matches up to other events that

might have happened at the time or songs

that were playing on the radio it needs

to be authentic otherwise believe me you

will get damning reviews from readers

who say this wasn't realistic so make

sure you get it right if you decid to

set it in the past and I was quite lucky

with 5 years from now because I decided

to set it to a timeline of my own life

so when the characters are 15 I could

refer back to what I was doing when I

was 15 and that M managed to root it in

reality so think about doing something

similar or otherwise just do a lot of

research to make sure it really really

lines up with what actually happened at

that time just one more thing if you do

decide to set a book over a long period

of time it can make your reader feel

even more connected to the characters so

it is worth looking at doing that but

you could equally also set it over just

a few you know few months and it's

really important to stick to the right

timeline if you do that too when I wrote

another book the minute I saw you it was

set over a timeline and it was only a

few months and I started to think hm you

know have the characters got to this

point a little bit too early in their

relationship like I feel like they've

maybe got there a little bit too quickly

and when I decided to change it I had to

go back and change so many details like

everything from whether or not there

would have been dragon flies on the

river at that time or I pay so much

attention to detail with my books like I

do ridiculous amounts of research you

know I will research when there's a full

moon in the sky I'll research flight

times you know even though no one's ever

going to go and check the airline to see

if that was the time the flight actually

set off and what time it landed but you

know I do do a lot of research because

all of the events are so rooted in

reality it makes me feel much more like

the book's realistic so it really helps

me in my writing process but you have to

do what's right for you another one of

my books Someone I Used to Know is told

between dual timelines of then and now

and they 15 years apart that was a

tricky one to write because I was trying

to write it like a then chapter and then

a now chapter and actually I ended up

realizing that I needed to live through

the experience of what had happened in

the past before I could write about how

they were feeling in the future so in

the end I ended up writing the whole of

the then section first which is like the

first half of the book and then writing

the second section and then weaving them

all in with editing and using a lot of

poster notes if that sounds quite

complicated to you then I recommend you

start with a really simple timeline

especially for your first book you can

change it up later when you're more

experienced but the most important thing

now is not getting stuck and not giving

up

the next thing I'm going to talk to you

about is pacing the final part of this

lesson the most important advice I would

give you is to sound like yourself when

I got a book deal for Lucy in the Sky I

stopped reading Contemporary women's

fiction because I was so worried that I

would read another author who was

writing in the same genre as me and I

would just be so daunted by what they

were What You Know by the how

brilliantly that they wrote that I would

feel like I paled in comparison and so I

basically stopped reading and I think

this was a mistake because now I read

other people's books and they just

inspire me they inspire me to to do

better I um might think of a a different

way of saying things you know like I

don't know how many times I can say you

know that I have butterflies but another

author might inspire me to come up with

a different way of saying that you know

and and then that will inspire me to

work a little bit harder and use

different vocabulary and you know become

a better author so don't stop reading

but equally don't be daunted by what you

read and the most important reason you

shouldn't be daunted by what you read is

that nobody else sounds like you and

nobody else should sound like you so

when you come to write your book you

will have a unique voice that sounds

like no other author unless you copy

them and I definitely recommend that you

do not copy their try to copy their tone

or their Style just don't just write

from the heart write the book that you

would love to read and just sound like

yourself because ultimately a publisher

is looking for a unique voice and that

unique voice could be yours one final

thing to say before you start writing

beware of getting your friends to read

your book certainly until you're really

confident that you know it's the book

that you've absolutely loved writing and

you feel like it's ready to be read by

other people just be careful of getting

your friends to read it though because

hopefully you will sound like yourself

but that will be quite hard for your

friends to read that book because they

will only be able to hear your voice in

your character's voices and if they give

you any even a small bit of negative

feedback it might Dent your confidence

and stop you from from writing so

instead of getting friends to read your

book use the Forum encourage other

writers while you're there and hopefully

you'll get some encouragement in turn I

really hope that lesson has been helpful

in helping you to pin down your personal

style so when you come to write you'll

feel a bit more confident about the sort

of book that you want to write and the

way that you're going to write it in the

next lesson I'm going to give you some

tips on how to get unstuck because

ultimately you will