My Hottest Tip for Those Who Want to Write

Plus I reveal my Book of the Year

Where does the power lie? It’s tempting to think that it resides in the political institutions, where the laws are made. But the laws and policies are forged in the furnace of public opinion and popular culture.

So if you want to change things, here’s one plan: join a political party, become a local councillor, stand for some unwinnable seats before getting your safe seat, and eventually get elected, become a cabinet minister and then be told that your proposed change to our society is unaffordable, impractical, or has already been tried several times and not worked.

Alternatively, you could write a novel.

I’m serious. It sounds like a hippie artist delusion but let’s think about it for a moment: one decent novel takes three years to write, three years to be published and three years to get noticed – and that’s only after you’ve written your second and third novels. That might be just as effective as in the grand scheme of things as a nine-year political career.

Perhaps that paragraph has already scared you. Three years to write a novel? Seriously? Yes. Seriously. And we’ll be getting into the art and business and frustration of writing in future posts on this Substack, especially from a Christian perspective. If that’s of interest, please subscribe:

And if that’s of interest to someone you know who has been threatening to write a novel for the last few years, or has decided 2023 is the year to finally write that novel (as if lockdown wasn’t the ideal opportunity to do that), then why not recommend this blog to them?

Here’s that one bit of advice as promised

Want to write? Well, write, then. What’s stopping you? You’d be surprised at how many people talk about wanting to write but don’t actually do it.

But that’s not the advice. Here it is:

Want to write? Read.

Writers are readers. I’m surprised how many wannabe novelists are unwilling to read. If you want to write a book, read many books. Read a book or two on how to write a book if you like. But you should be reading lots of books, especially fiction and especially in the genre that you’re trying to write.

Sitcom is my true passion and area of expertise. I read sitcom scripts that just don’t feel like a sitcoms at all. A conversation with the writer of the script reveals they don’t really watch sitcoms. I’m left struggling to work out why they’ve spent hours and hours writing a 5000-word script in a genre they don’t even seem to like or respect.

This is even more the case with a novel, which needs to be ten times longer than a sitcom script. At least 50,000 words. Publishers want 80,000 words. That’s a lot of words. But also a lot of plot, structure and character work. How do you do it? Learn from other novels. Good novels. Read many good novels.

There’s a good novel that I read last year. In fact, it totally enchanted me to the point where I read it twice. Once for myself, and then once to my daughters. (Even though they are 14 and 12, I still read to them at bedtime.)

A Celebrity Author Fan

The book was by an author with a celebrity fan in JK Rowling, who apparently said The Little White Horse was her favourite children’s book. It’s no big surprise it’s favoured by the author of Harry Potter. The Little White Horse by Elizabeth Goudge is the story of a 13-year-old orphan, Maria Merryweather, who is sent off to Moonacre Manor which has an air of mystery and magic.

I haven’t read The Little White Horse. I plan to this year. My problem is that in my reading, I am naturally drawn towards ideas and non-fiction rather than stories, which might seem surprising for a screenwriter, but there it is.

So in 2023, I plan to take my own advice and read more novels. 26 novels (Come and find me on Goodreads, if you like.) Some I plan to read to my kids. Some I plan to listen to as audio books, including some epic poetry, which is meant to be heard rather than read. But I need to imbibe more fiction, because I think ND Wilson is right. It all starts with books and the written word. But we’ll get into that another time.

My Novel of the Year

So the novel I loved most in 2022 is City of Bells by Elizabeth Goudge. It is set in Torminster, a fictionalised version of Wells, where the author was born in 1900. Her father was vice-principal of the theological college there. The book was published in 1936, but is set in the city of the author’s youth, thirty years or so earlier.

City of Bells is about an(other) orphaned girl called Henrietta, adopted by a venerable and tender-hearted canon of the Cathedral. There’s also a young man trying to find his way in the world, a rogue poet, an actress and a play, and the whole thing is utterly enchanting. What I appreciated the most is that Christian faith is taken seriously, and neither mocked nor romanticised. It is just part of the fabric of the town, the cathedral close and the language. It’s a hard recommend.

If you like that book, you’re in luck. There are plenty more where that came from. Goudge was not just a prolific author, but one who lived to the age of 84. City of Bells, oddly, is the first book in two trilogies. The slightly better-known trio is called the The Cathedral Trilogy.

The Cathedral Trilogy

City of Bells, set in Torminster in 1900, is followed by Towers in the Mist (1938), set in Elizabethan Oxford, and then The Dean’s Watch (1960), set in an isolated cathedral city in the Fens, reminiscent of Ely. Goudge’s family moved there after Wells, her father becoming principal of the theological college there, before moving to Oxford.

The Torminster Saga

There are two more books about Henrietta in Torminster. The second is a short Christmas story called Sisters of Angels (1939). It’s a pleasant Christmas read which I also read aloud to my daughters during Advent. But it’s not as good as City of Bells, or the third book in series, Henrietta’s House aka The Blue Hills (1942), set during the summer when the journey to a birthday picnic takes several strange and magical turns. We really enjoyed that one. These later two books have been republished by Girls Gone By.

Maybe that Cathedral trilogy will finally tip me into reading Anthony Trollope. Who knows what 2023 will bring? But I know that I, like you, need to put down my iPhone and iPad. Stop scrolling. Stop gawping. Starting reading. Pick up a book. And read it. Especially if you want to write one. And there’s no point writing one unless you plan to write several. But we will get into that another time as well. Sounds like a reason to subscribe (it’s free)?

If you want to support this Substack, and get my essay about how politics is downstream from culture – and how Christians gave it away, then make a donation to my writing over here.

If you want to hear me talk about other favourite books and TV shows from 2022, listen to the latest episode of Cooper and Cary Have Words, 2022 in the Rearview.