Getting started on your writing is hard, we all know that. But you don’t have to actually write when you’re at your desk.

Watch my video or read the text below to find out why thinking about your book and mulling it over is still working on your book.

Hello my lovely writers. 

I wanted to do a quick video about getting started because that can often be a hard place to start. Sometimes it’s not difficult, sometimes the getting started is easy, but there are times where getting started on the actual meat and bones of a book is hard and it’s eluding you. 

I know I’ve got work to do on my non-fiction book. Non-fiction for me is not something I do often as my focus is very much on fiction, but I’m writing a book based on my course, Unlock Your Creative Block, and so the topics I’m writing about are things I talk about all the time.

Getting started on your writing is hard

They are things I include in my own writing life, so it should be easy, shouldn’t it? It should be really easy to do but I’m finding it hard. 

It’s cold so I’ve put the fire on and I’ve got my lovely cat here for company. But just by being here and taking some time out with my book, even if it’s just twenty minutes to give it some thought, I am still working.

I’m still working.

I might not get the answer I’m looking for today and I might not get what I want to write down on paper but I’m still working because 80-90% of writing a book happens in our heads.

I need to embrace that, be aware of that, lean into it and think, ‘Okay, spend the time with the book, spend the time thinking, doing the mulling it over and the answers will come.’ 

So that is today’s work for me. Mulling it over. 

How are you getting on with your book? Do let me know in the comments. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel. Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Done is better than perfect. Messy action. Imperfect action. It took me a long time to embrace these three phrases but, now I do, I’m so glad. 

Watch my video or read the post below to find out why, when it comes to your writing, done is better than perfect. 

Hello, my lovely writers. 

Imperfect action. Messy action. Done is better than perfect. 

These are three phrases I have had drummed into me for a long, long time and, slowly but surely, I have embraced them.

I’ve leaned into them. I’ve taken them on board and understood that, if I want to make progress with my writing and write that book, I’ve got to lean into the imperfect. I’ve got to get started and I’ve got to take some action.

Done is better than perfect

I wanted to impress upon you today that doing something messily and imperfectly is so much better than not doing it at all. 

Some of you might be thinking, ‘Well, if I don’t have my plot line all worked out, there’s no point in me getting started.’

For you sci-fi writers, ‘If I don’t have that whole world and that bible worked out, there’s no point me getting started.’

Or you might be thinking, ‘If I don’t have an in-depth character sketch done, there’s no point me getting started.’ 

I want you to know you’ve got to start somewhere and that is with the imperfection. That is with not knowing everything. Not having all the answers. 

Even your favourite author started somewhere

If you want to be like your favourite writer, you’ve got to get started. If you want to feel as capable and as competent and as accomplished and as finessed as your favourite writer, you’ve got to remember they started somewhere.

They were beginners once as well. They had the same imperfections. They had the same insecurities, the same feelings of doubt and the lack of confidence, exactly the same as you. But they had to do it anyway. They had to lean into that, they had to take messy action. They had to take imperfect action. They had to acknowledge that done was better than perfect. 

I’m sure if you go to any of your favourite writers, they will say their books are not perfect and there are so many things they would want to do differently. But they’ve got to acknowledge the book is what it is, the story is what it is, they are the writer they are and they’ve got to move forward with that and people will love what they do.

Remember, we’re always our harshest critics. 

There’s no point having a perfect book in your head

So, please do take that messy action. Take that imperfect action because done is better than perfect. There’s no point having this perfect book in your head if it’s not on the paper.

And you can’t get the book you want unless you get something down that you can mould and shape and edit and revise and turn into the finished product you want it to be. 

Something I’ve talked about recently is being uncomfortable. You’ve got to get used to being uncomfortable with your writing because that is part of the creative process and I’ll talk more about that another day. 

For now though, just remember, take imperfect action. Messy action. Done is better than perfect. 

Emma xx 

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel. Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Do you want to know how to create realistic characters?

Watch my video below, or read the post, and I’ll share my secrets with you. 

Hello my lovely writers!

Today I want to talk about how to create realistic characters because it’s something writers are always interested in. 

The first thing to do is to give your character a flaw, or what other people would describe as a lie or a misbelief. This is something they think about the world, the way they view the world or the way they view themselves. Something they believe at the beginning of the book but which, by the end of the book, they will have transformed or changed their view. 

Usually it’s something that happened to them earlier in their lives at an age when we’re influenced by outside experiences and something happened that shaped how we view ourselves. You probably remember something that happened to you when you were in primary school that still has an impact on you – it’s the same for your character. 

Think about something that happened to your character early on in their life that has impacted the way they view themselves by way of a flaw, a negative way of thinking or a misbelief they have about themselves. By the end of the book, you would have taken them on a journey where they realise that that belief is not true. 

How to create realistic characters

The second way to create realistic characters is to give them goals and desires. What is it your character wants more than anything? What is it they are trying to achieve that they believe will make their life so much better? 

It might be they achieve that goal and it does make their life better, or perhaps they realised that was a false goal and it won’t make their life better. Or maybe they achieve it and they realise it doesn’t make their life better and so, towards the end of the book, they have to have a rethink. 

The thing they’re always striving for can be tangible. It can be a real physical goal or something they’re trying to achieve or it can be emotional and more of an internal goal. 

Create a backstory for your character

The third tip I have for you to help create realistic characters is the dreaded word, ‘backstory.’ When we talk about backstory in terms of creating a character, this is not the info dump you hear about at the beginning. By all means do the infodump in your first draft and take it out later, but you want to create a solid backstory for your character. 

For me, that is not about which supermarket they shop at or what brands they buy. It’s about the important things in their lives such as what was their schooling like? What was their relationship like with their siblings, parents or grandparents? What were some of the key events in their lives that have shaped them into the human they are today? 

This is really important because this is giving not just a backstory to what’s happened in your character’s life but these are all the things that shaped your character as well and, as you explore those things, you really get to know your character so much better. 

A bonus tip

A bonus tip for you is to actually write that backstory out in longhand in a journal. Don’t go to your computer. Use handwriting if you can because that connection between your brain and your hand is so, so powerful and it will connect to your subconscious. You will be amazed at what comes out when you handwrite. It’s phenomenal. 

Those are three tips to get you started on how to create realistic characters. We want to give our characters that flaw, that lie, that misbelief about themselves that you will disprove by the end of the book.

We want to give them a solid, clear, dream, desire, goal or ambition that they may or may not achieve by the end of the book. 

Then think about the backstory. Who is your character? What has led them to the point that they are at just now? What have been the transformative moments in their lives that have shaped them into being the individual they are? 

I hope you find those three tips useful. Let me know in the comments if you found them useful, if you have done them, or any tips you’ve got for creating wonderfully realistic and juicy characters. 

​Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is a Certified Author Accelerator Book Coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer's block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Writing isn’t meant to be easy. I didn’t always think that way though. When I first started writing and found it difficult, I thought to myself, if I was supposed to be a writer, then it wouldn’t be this hard.

Watch my video or read the post below to find out why we’re not supposed to find writing easy.

Hello, my lovely writers. 

I’ve been thinking about before I wrote my first book and before I wrote with intention. I used to write off and on, whenever the muse took me and, for a long time I thought, if I was meant to be a writer, it wouldn’t be this hard.

Writing isn’t meant to be easy

I thought, if I was meant to be a writer, it would be easy. What I’ve learnt over the years is that it isn’t easy for anybody. 

If you’re sitting at home looking at your pages, or thinking about your writing and thinking, ‘Why do I dread this so much? Why does this wall of resistance rise up every time I think about doing my writing? What’s wrong with me? If I was meant to be a writer, then it would be easy,’ I understand completely because I was absolutely there.

But let me reassure you, it’s not meant to be easy. Nothing worth having, nothing worth striving for and nothing that is important is meant to be easy.  

Writing is tricky, it’s challenging, it’s a puzzle you need to figure out, whether it be a plotline puzzle or a trying-to-understand-your-characters type of puzzle. There’s always something to be working out and writing a book is a series of problem solving. You’re getting your characters into trouble and then you’ve got to find a way out of it by the end. 

Don’t give up

If you’re having those thoughts, please stop. Say to yourself, ‘Okay, this is challenging. It’s not easy but, hey, it’s not meant to be easy. If it’s not meant to be easy, I shouldn’t give up, I shouldn’t feel bad. I’ll just get back to the page and carry on.’ 

Remember, writing isn’t meant to be easy. It’s meant to be challenging, it’s meant to be a puzzle and it’s the same for everybody. If I can do it, you can absolutely do it too. So get puzzling. 

Emma xx 

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel. Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!

Writers can learn a lot from George Michael. You probably think you have nothing in common with him but so did I until I watched a Netflix documentary!

Watch the video below to find out how George Michael’s ascension into stardom can teach a lot to us as writers.

Hello my lovely writers.  

I’m watching a documentary about the pop band Wham!, who became huge in the 80s. George Michael was a member of that band, along with Andrew Ridgeley. 

The Netflix documentary is about how they ascended into stardom. It’s been funny to watch because, when I think about George Michael, I think about this sex symbol, this huge star, this good-looking, successful singer-songwriter/performer who garnered respect all around the world from other singer-songwriters and, of course, his fans. 

But he was not always George Michael and, in this documentary, it’s been interesting to watch his ascension from being Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou, known as Yog by his friends, to George Michael. 

From being a slightly overweight, very shy, very introverted, unconfident teenager, who wasn’t a good-looking boy at all, into the superstar and sex symbol that became George Michael and screamed at by lots of young girls and boys. 

The connection between writers and George Michael

You may be wondering where the connection is between George Michael and you as writers?

The connection is the journey it takes. 

When you are starting out writing your first book, you are young Georgios Kyriacos Panayiotou. You are Yog. That’s who you are at the beginning. 

But as you practise, as you write one book, then the next, then the next, perfecting your craft and developing your mindset and strength, it’s exactly what Yog did to become George Michael.

The mental transformation in him as he practised, wrote songs, sang, produced, toured and learnt his craft, was where the transformation came from.

It’s the same for you.

Your transformation is going to come as you do the practice, as you write the books, as you spend time with your characters, as you progress and learn. But you’ve got to do it. 

You’ve got to do the writing. It’s all very well to watch videos like this, it’s all very well to read craft books, it’s all very well to listen to podcasts and go to summits and conventions, but you’ve actually got to do the work. That’s where Yog went right. 

He was doing the work; he was listening to the albums and the songwriters that influenced him, then he was getting together with Andrew Ridgeley and they practised together. They wrote songs and melodies and produced their own demos on old cassettes.

That’s what you and I do when we’re writing our first drafts. We’re getting stuff down, making it as good as we can in that first draft, but knowing it’s going to go into the production studio and get better, knowing our books are going to go into revision and get better. 

Unlock your creative block

Take a leaf from George Michael’s book, be inspired by him, watch the Netflix documentary if you’re interested but it’s all about the practise, it’s all about the doing, it’s all about building your confidence and changing your mindset to believe you are capable of doing the thing you say you want to do. 

If you need help with that, Unlock Your Creative Block is my course. It is a programme designed to help you to stop being scared of the page, to stop you watching so many videos, or listening to so many podcasts and reading so many books. It will help you implement what you have already learned and I’ll bet you’ve already learned a lot. 

If you know that’s what’s holding you back and you’re scared to actually put the words on the page, sign up to Unlock Your Creative Block today. 

Emma xx

Emma Dhesi

Emma Dhesi is an author mindset coach and bestselling author who helps writers let go of perfectionism, self-doubt and writer’s block through her signature programme, Unlock Your Creative Block.

She is the host of the YouTube Channel, Emma Dhesi, where she interviews debut and experienced authors alike.

Through her 1:1 coaching programme, Emma helps new authors start and finish their first novel.

Emma provides personal written feedback on their pages and guides them through the emotional rollercoaster that is writing a novel!