• Writing is a manifestation of thoughts, so have lots of thoughts.
• Bananas, dark chocolate and peanut butter can help the creative process
• Having a lie down can also help
• Deadlines are good
• Get critiques from people you trust, varied people (they don’t all have to be industry people), honest people
• Less with the exposition, more with the drama
• When stuck, pick a character and kill them. If everyone says no no don’t kill that character… you know you’re on to a winner. I jotted this down as a David Milroy comment… I’ve just read Graham Clements writing up this panel said Luke Devonish made this comment! Oh no, where is the truth? Oh recollection you are imperfect and this was a spot where I looked at text and filled in blanks, so Graham is probably right.
• Visualise. Visualise and strip it back to bodies in an empty space and visualise it without big fancy props or a hundred set changes.
• Humility is important
• Co-writing can be dangerous territory, be careful
• Obsession is ok and sometimes the house might fall apart for a few weeks (so get the timing of your obsessive binges right so you’re bills are paid relatively on time).

And tomorrow, at lastly last it will be the articulate and snazzy Kathryn Heyman… who by those weird washingmachine actions of the world recently taught my Dad in an intensive novel writing workshop. Dad’s been raving about her ever since.