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in this lesson I'll encourage you to
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start thinking about the sort of love
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story that you'd like to write we'll pin
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down your personal style and talk about
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the importance of pacing and connecting
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with your emotions you're taking this
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course because you're interested in
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writing a love story so now we need to
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decide what sort of Love Story you want
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to write because they come in many
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different genres have a think back to
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some of the films that you absolutely
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love to watch Do You Love movies that
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make you laugh or do you like ones that
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make you cry do you like super sexy
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stories or would you rather what happens
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in the bedroom stays in the bedroom
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perhaps you'd like to write a historical
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novel or you'd prefer to write one
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that's set in the present day and then
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there are also love stories that take
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place in a fantasy world or perhaps
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you'd rather they stay in the real world
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I believe that you should write the sort
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of books that you absolutely love to
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read so I think it's really important to
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pin down what you love the most and then
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start thinking about a story that fits
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into that genre I would recommend that
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you never ever write what you think you
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should or what you think will sell
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ultimately if you write a book that you
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absolutely love then guarantee there
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will be readers out there who will love
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it too so stay true to yourself be
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authentic and hopefully you will have a
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long and really happy writing career the
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first thing I'm going to talk to you
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about in terms a personal style is
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tenses because that forms part of your
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personal style you can change what tense
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you write a book in but obviously if
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your first book you need to decide and
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you need to stick with it so I always
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write in the first person present tense
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I love to be rooted in the the immediate
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action you know knowing exactly what's
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happening when it's happening I like to
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be inside the character's head and
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experiencing all of the emotions along
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with them present tense can give a book
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a filmic quality making you feel
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completely engaged as you're reading
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here's an example from 5 years from now
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one of my
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books what are you doing I G as van
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presses my back against the cold wall my
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skin is alive with shocks and Tremors at
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the contact his hands are on my wrists
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burning scorching he steps forward his
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hips pinning me in place I draw a sharp
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intake of breath and then his mouth is
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on mine okay so that was an example of
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present tense but I could have used past
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tense which would have been what are you
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doing I gasped as van pressed my back
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against the cold wall my skin was alive
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with shocks and Tremors at the contact
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his hands were on my wrists burning
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scorching he stepped forward his hips
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pinning me in place I drew a sharp
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intake of breath and then his mouth was
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on mine okay so you can see the
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difference you know there's there's
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present tense which is my skin is alive
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with shocks or past tense my skin was
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alive with shocks so as you can see
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present tense is already immediate and
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you know quite filmic you feel like
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you're there experiencing it as the
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characters are but past tense is
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actually the more common tense in novel
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writing so once you've decided whether
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or not you prefer present or past tense
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and it's a really good idea just to try
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and write a sentence or write a few
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paragraphs trying out the two different
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tenses to see see what feels most
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natural to you but also you know have a
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look at the sort of books that you
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absolutely love cuz chances are those
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books will be the tents that you you
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know that you choose to end up writing
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with but once you have decided your
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tense you need to stick to it because
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that's such a rookie mistake when you're
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writing your book to change tenses
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halfway through sometimes I even still
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finding myself doing that when I'm
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talking about flashbacks I'm not quite
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sure whether or not to use you know past
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tense or but anyway all I'm saying is
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just make sure you choose your tense and
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stick with it
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we've talked about tenses past or
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present now you need to also think about
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perspective so I like using first person
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because I like being inside the
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character's head but you could use third
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person and that again is probably more
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common so I could have said Nell gasped
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as van pressed her back against the cold
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wall and then I could have said her skin
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was alive with shocks and Tremors at the
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contact his hands were on her wrists
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burning scorching he stepped forward his
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hips pinning her in place so that is
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told from third person perspective and
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some people prefer to have that little
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element of distance so they can also you
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know look at other things that might be
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happening they might like to go to the
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perspective of a different character for
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example whereas with first person you're
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pretty much rooted with that character I
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don't recommend that you do third person
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present tense cuz I think that sounds
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really weird which would be Nell's skin
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is alive with shocks and Tremors at the
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contact his hands are on n's wrists
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burning scorching it's too present and
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too immediate I think for me but you
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know you must write the book that you
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love and you need to find out what works
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most naturally for you I discovered
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after I'd written quite a few books that
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actually some of my favorite books use
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first person present tense and in fact I
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think possibly all of Colleen Hoover's
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books are all first person present tense
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and I like the way that it makes me feel
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really deeply connected to the
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characters and you know being able to
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experiencing everything that they are
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experiencing as they're experiencing it
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so that's probably why I'm drawn to
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write in that same way but then I also
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write emotional love stories so you know
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my books are packed full of emotion and
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you know they're not necessarily
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light-hearted or anything like that so
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you might find that a little bit of
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distance is better for the sort of story
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that you want to write so you just need
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to find your personal style and then
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like I say stick with it one word of
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warning if you do decide to use first
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person present tense be really careful
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at pacing don't bore your reader with
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mundane details like I open the door I
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close the door that is so so boring to
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read you need to keep it paced keep your
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story moving forward and then you won't
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have a
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problem so you know that bit that I said
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about finding your tense and then
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sticking with it there are exceptions to
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the rule sometimes if your book is
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broken up into different sections then
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you might find that you want to tell
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something from a different perspective
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or from a different tense and in this
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case with 5 years from now still the
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same book on the very first chapter and
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then the second chapter I was writing
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from the perspective of my main
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character being a child and I thought it
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would be far too too restrictive for me
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to be inside the head of a 5-year-old
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girl trying to explain what she's seeing
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and for the reader to be reading from
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her perspective and therefore me not
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being able to set the scene or describe
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the surroundings so I actually decided
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just for these first two chapters to
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change perspective and tense so instead
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of saying there is a boy on my bed which
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it could have been you know could have
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worked I say there was a boy on n's bed
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so you can do that you can change the
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tenses if it works for the story but
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just on the whole the general rule is
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find which tense you're going to use and
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stick to it now I'm going to talk about
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the importance of connecting with your
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emotions it is so so important that you
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are feeling everything that your
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characters are feeling as you're writing
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about it I once saw Adele singing
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Someone Like You live on stage and she
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had tears in her eyes because she was so
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connected to her emotions and the
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feelings that she felt when she was
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writing that song I would like you to be
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just as connected to your emotions when
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you come to write if you're writing a
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funny scene I hope you're laughing if
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you're writing a had scene I really hope
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that there were tears pouring down your
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face because if you're not connected to
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your emotions then your readers
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ultimately won't feel that emotion
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pouring onto the page and they're not
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going to get any of those feelings when
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they read it when I write I am feeling
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it all like I cannot stop crying if I'm
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writing a really sad scene in fact there
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was this one moment where my husband
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walked in on me when I was writing a sad
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scene from 5 years from now the book
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that I've just been talking about and it
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was a horrendous scene but I was just
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sobbing I was absolutely crying in fact
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he caught a video of it because he
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wanted me to have a record of how much
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emotion I poured into my books when
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you're writing especially if you're
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writing a sad scene then you need to go
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somewhere really quiet undisturbed by
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other people and really manage to feel
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it all because there's nothing more
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distracting than having your husband
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walking in when you're sobbing and
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pulling out his camera phone so don't do
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that I've talked about the importance of
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feeling connected to your emotions
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obviously there are always going to be
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times when you don't feel connected you
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will always hit stumbling blocks but on
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those occasions you know just take a
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break from writing because there's no
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point in writing if you're not feeling
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it because guaranteed your readers won't
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feel it either so take a break go for a
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walk listen to some music watch a movie
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get inspired again okay so um and then
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hopefully when you come back and
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especially if you're reading a book or
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or something that is a book about the
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sort of emotions that you're trying to
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capture then hopefully you'll be feeling
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it still and you can harness that
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emotion I write almost in a method
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acting kind of way like I genuinely feel
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like I'm experiencing what the what the
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characters are are experiencing as I'm
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writing it so I really hope that you can
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feel like that too and like I say just
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get inspired by other things if you
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can't get a little bit of a helping hand
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with a sad movie or or something like
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that another thing you need to decide on
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before you start writing a book is what
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the timeline's going to be is it going
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to be set in the present day or is it
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going to be set in the past if it's set
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in the present day it's probably a lot
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easier than it is to write a book that's
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set in the past if you do write a book
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that's set in the past then you need to
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make sure it's authentic and realistic
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and matches up to other events that
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might have happened at the time or songs
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that were playing on the radio it needs
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to be authentic otherwise believe me you
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will get damning reviews from readers
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who say this wasn't realistic so make
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sure you get it right if you decid to
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set it in the past and I was quite lucky
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with 5 years from now because I decided
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to set it to a timeline of my own life
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so when the characters are 15 I could
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refer back to what I was doing when I
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was 15 and that M managed to root it in
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reality so think about doing something
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similar or otherwise just do a lot of
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research to make sure it really really
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lines up with what actually happened at
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that time just one more thing if you do
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decide to set a book over a long period
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of time it can make your reader feel
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even more connected to the characters so
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it is worth looking at doing that but
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you could equally also set it over just
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a few you know few months and it's
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really important to stick to the right
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timeline if you do that too when I wrote
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another book the minute I saw you it was
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set over a timeline and it was only a
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few months and I started to think hm you
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know have the characters got to this
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point a little bit too early in their
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relationship like I feel like they've
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maybe got there a little bit too quickly
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and when I decided to change it I had to
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go back and change so many details like
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everything from whether or not there
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would have been dragon flies on the
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river at that time or I pay so much
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attention to detail with my books like I
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do ridiculous amounts of research you
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know I will research when there's a full
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moon in the sky I'll research flight
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times you know even though no one's ever
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going to go and check the airline to see
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if that was the time the flight actually
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set off and what time it landed but you
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know I do do a lot of research because
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all of the events are so rooted in
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reality it makes me feel much more like
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the book's realistic so it really helps
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me in my writing process but you have to
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do what's right for you another one of
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my books Someone I Used to Know is told
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between dual timelines of then and now
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and they 15 years apart that was a
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tricky one to write because I was trying
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to write it like a then chapter and then
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a now chapter and actually I ended up
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realizing that I needed to live through
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the experience of what had happened in
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the past before I could write about how
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they were feeling in the future so in
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the end I ended up writing the whole of
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the then section first which is like the
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first half of the book and then writing
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the second section and then weaving them
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all in with editing and using a lot of
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poster notes if that sounds quite
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complicated to you then I recommend you
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start with a really simple timeline
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especially for your first book you can
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change it up later when you're more
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experienced but the most important thing
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now is not getting stuck and not giving
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up
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the next thing I'm going to talk to you
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about is pacing the final part of this
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lesson the most important advice I would
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give you is to sound like yourself when
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I got a book deal for Lucy in the Sky I
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stopped reading Contemporary women's
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fiction because I was so worried that I
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would read another author who was
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writing in the same genre as me and I
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would just be so daunted by what they
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were What You Know by the how
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brilliantly that they wrote that I would
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feel like I paled in comparison and so I
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basically stopped reading and I think
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this was a mistake because now I read
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other people's books and they just
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inspire me they inspire me to to do
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better I um might think of a a different
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way of saying things you know like I
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don't know how many times I can say you
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know that I have butterflies but another
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author might inspire me to come up with
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a different way of saying that you know
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and and then that will inspire me to
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work a little bit harder and use
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different vocabulary and you know become
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a better author so don't stop reading
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but equally don't be daunted by what you
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read and the most important reason you
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shouldn't be daunted by what you read is
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that nobody else sounds like you and
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nobody else should sound like you so
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when you come to write your book you
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will have a unique voice that sounds
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like no other author unless you copy
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them and I definitely recommend that you
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do not copy their try to copy their tone
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or their Style just don't just write
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from the heart write the book that you
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would love to read and just sound like
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yourself because ultimately a publisher
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is looking for a unique voice and that
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unique voice could be yours one final
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thing to say before you start writing
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beware of getting your friends to read
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your book certainly until you're really
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confident that you know it's the book
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that you've absolutely loved writing and
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you feel like it's ready to be read by
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other people just be careful of getting
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your friends to read it though because
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hopefully you will sound like yourself
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but that will be quite hard for your
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friends to read that book because they
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will only be able to hear your voice in
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your character's voices and if they give
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you any even a small bit of negative
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feedback it might Dent your confidence
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and stop you from from writing so
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instead of getting friends to read your
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book use the Forum encourage other
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writers while you're there and hopefully
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you'll get some encouragement in turn I
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really hope that lesson has been helpful
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in helping you to pin down your personal
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style so when you come to write you'll
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feel a bit more confident about the sort
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of book that you want to write and the
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way that you're going to write it in the
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next lesson I'm going to give you some
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tips on how to get unstuck because
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ultimately you will
30535
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