Photo courtesy of goodreads

Even though there are a lot of people out there that will say that Nicholas Sparks just recycles his stories, I personally find them all touching and think he's a master at writing the kind of story he writes, even if I don't always agree with the actions of his characters (ex. Dear John).  And what's more, he became a bestselling author with his first publication, The Notebook.  Now there's something I know all of you writers out there dream of every night.

Fortunately for us, Nicholas Sparks (and his website with the fancy new look) has provided us with something very valuable for free: advice for writers on how to be successful.  I must say that I absolutely ate it up and felt inspired afterward, especially since I've let my writing fall into a serious slump.  He not only says things to give me hope but says things that make me want to be even better than I am (a lot better than I am, really).

Before getting into all the technical parts about agents, publishers, query letters, editing, and everything else there is to the business of writing, Sparks offers some truly sound advice about where to begin:

Research
Sparks suggests that aspiring authors should read as much as they can about writing.  Some of the books he suggests are On Writing by Stephen King, The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White, Creating Fiction edited by Julie Checkoway, and A Dangerous Profession by Frederick Busch.  "I also like Screenplay by Sid Field, which isn’t about novel writing, but has a lot of useful information."  I've made all of these books available in the Notes From Carcosa Online store, as well as the 2013 editions of Writer's Market and Poet's Market.

Read
Reading is very important for writers so that they may have a sound frame of reference for shaping their own novel.  Nicholas Sparks states the he reads over 100 books a year and has done so since he was 15.  Not only has all of this reading taught him which authors are the best and to be admired, it has taught him which are not so good and where they made their mistakes.

"Next, focus in on the genre you want to write, and read books in that genre. A LOT of books by a variety of authors. And read with questions in your mind."  What he means by this is asking yourself about the various aspects of the book, from "How many chapters?" to "Was the suspense scene mostly narrative or mostly dialogue?", and then asking yourself if those things worked for or against the author.  Really delve into the book, then read another book in the same genre and ask those questions again.

"Little by little, you’ll learn the process."

Write
" The final step is to write. You can’t be a writer if you don’t write, it’s just that simple."  He says that by finishing two novels before The Notebook, he learned not only that he liked to write but that he could finish a novel.

Sparks writes "five or six days a week, usually a minimum of 2000 words, sometimes more."  When he's finished with whatever he's working on, he moves straight on to something else.  He says that writing 2000 words a day takes anywhere from three to eight hours, and he's always striving to improve.


I'll admit that I'm very guilty of not doing many of these things lately, even though I know they're the right thing to do.  I hardly ever read books on writing anymore, I'm currently reading fewer than 20 or 30 books a year, and I haven't written anything substantial in a long, LONG time.  However, I want so much to change this, and hopefully this blog will be a great first step in the right direction!
 
If you'd like to read more of Sparks' advice, please visit the Advice for Writers section of his website, found here.   Let me know what you think about it, and you're welcome to share any of your own advice in the comments!