::mslexia author method::

The Meera Syal Method
From Interview no. 4

• A vague idea for a book (e.g. ‘a friendship between two teenage girls’ or ‘three thirty-something women and a man who comes between them’) begins to germinate in your mind. Don’t panic: you do not have to write anything for at least a year.

• The vague idea turns out to be attached to several sketchy character outlines. List these on a Post-it note, stick it on the wall, never look at it again.

• Allow these characters to set up home in your subconscious, where they will gradually acquire autonomy and solidity.

• During this period you should become a kind of magpie, picking up mannerisms and anecdotes, oddments of clothing and speech, and attaching them to one or other of your characters (this process is helped enormously by the improvisational skills you have developed as an actor).

• This preparatory phase is complete when your characters seem almost as real and distinct as your real-life friends and you can hear their voices, see their faces and predict their feelings with utter confidence and clarity. (Being able to hear their voices is particularly important as your book will be written using their internal voices.)

• Now schedule a 16-week break in your other work commitments.

• Open a file on your word processor and type ‘Chapter 1’.

• Working steadily and without notes, type 3,000 words a day for 40 days and 40 nights (during periods when your daughter is either asleep or at school) until the first draft of the manuscript is complete (c 120,000 words).

• If your confidence wavers during this marathon, simply remind yourself that this is a first draft, that anyhting wrong can always be put right later - and force yourself to continue.

• If that doesn’t work, telephone your publisher about troublesome aspects of character development or plot pacing, talk it through with him, and follow his advice (or not).

• Send the completed first draft to your publisher, who will read it and pass copies to one or more professional readers.

• Wait. Rest. Eat. See some friends.

• Receive a long report from your publisher, summarising comments from everyone who’s read the manuscript. (This is a familiar process. Having written for film and television, you stopped being precious about your writing long ago and are used to rewriting, incorporating other people’s suggestions.)
n Spend three weeks revising the manuscript, using the opportunity to tighten the language and rewrite sections to your own satisfaction.

If your confidence wavers during this marathon, simply remind yourself that this is a first draft, that anyhting wrong can always be put right later - and force yourself to continue.