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'Develop your own voice'

20 June 2005

'My advice to budding authors is always the same: go the distance on the story. Work over it again and again. Hone your writing until it flows like running water. Be patient, because it takes time for characters to reveal their true natures, and the story will only have integrity when the people in it are believable. Practise your craft as much as you can. Don't be like the many people who are more in love with the image of being a writer than the writing itself.

Above all, develop your own voice. Don't strive to be a second-rate Shakespeare or Dickens. Concentrate on becoming a first-rate version of yourself.'

Tim Bowler, author of Apocalypse, in Writers' ForumBritish writers' magazine which is highly recommended for all writers. It features wide range of news and articles which help writers to improve their work and get published: www.writers-forum.com magazine