Author Blog

2025 — A new charge

A recap of the achievements of 2024 and what I would like to improve in the coming year.

Diliny M. De Alwis

09 Jan 2025 — 3 min read

Mindset

2025 — A new charge

Top 5 Achievements of 2024

My novel POS, drafted in 2023, is at a highly polished version of 9.6.
71/100 negative replies to agent queries.
2 virtual conferences — The Fold and the BIPOC Writers Connect. I made many excellent connections with established and budding writers.
Incredible feedback and support from 4 mentors: Brittany Smith (Firefly), Kim Abrahamse (Firefly), Susan (Deepam) E. Wadds (Blue Pencil, WCYR) and Governer General award-winning Anuja Varghese (BIPOC Writers Connect, Writers Union of Canada).
Feedback from my test readers: Kiran, Lisa, Bridget, Ruchi, Kushan, Kevin, Laki, and Dinush. As well as from my writer’s groups: Aurora Writer’s Group (Josy, Doug, Tania, Peter, Lawrence, Rachel, Sashi, David, Laurel, Meghan, Mirek, Shiraz), King City Write Now (Dorita, Brian, Brian, Chris, Christine, and Mike), The Big One (Wendi, Shauna, Amelia, Carly, Zelia) and Historical fiction writers (Lynn and Meghan).

Seeing the names — I realize the sheer number of folk (33) who have read and contributed to my novel’s chapters and, in some cases, read the novel in its entirety!!! My gratitude overflows.

What has changed in my writing style?

More confidence in my characters and stories.
Time to flush out plot, character plot, voice, mannerisms, scene, etc.
I own my process — messy and all over the place. If it’s not ‘finished’ today, it will be finished tomorrow.
Inspiration from the mundane.
Let go — knowing I can change anything anytime.
Awareness of the audience's attention span, number of characters and scenes within a chapter.

What to improve in 2025?

Character-driven telling versus narration

It will get written if it’s relevant to the story. It will get cut if it’s just pretty pictures or cool facts. How can I tell this from the character’s perspective? Is my character experiencing this here and now? How does this move the plot forward? Does the reader need to know this?

Check-list-driven productivity

To use when overwhelmed and having a slow start to the day: start with a granular checklist of what I hope to accomplish. If I hit the top 3, that’s great. One hour of research, ten minutes of specific character development, twenty minutes of writing this chapter from different character’s perspectives, and ten minutes of scene building.

Get out and walk/exercise, take regular breaks | Clean up my workspace | Change of scene

Often I don’t do this. I am that crazy scientist surrounded by clutter. Something that works to increase productivity is to decide to clean up my office instead. Suddenly, ideas begin flowing, and I can think of a reason to sit down and type. Walking helps thinking stew. How this looks: write the skeleton dialogue, go for a walk, and then write the scene around the dialogue.

Bedtime is for sleep.

Some of my best plot twists and unlocking of blocks have come at 3 AM. I will hinder my sleep by sitting up and writing like crazy in a notebook or journal. This is the best time for my mind to compute solutions. So, I tell myself,

“this is a great solution, but I will be welcome to listen in the morning”.

Why? Often, it’s half-baked at night. Writing the ideas down helps; if I sleep on it and dream, the idea gets fully cooked, and I’ve seen better progress when I sit down to write the next day.

Pause to proceed

This is a weird one. Sometimes, I can’t write for days, but the ideas are all muddled. These are days best spent cooking, cleaning, watching Korean dramas (with restraint) or listening to podcasts. Then, something eventually clicks. The key is to start each morning with the intention of putting finger to keyboard. When the writing is not there, then proceed to the other much needed tasks in life. Come back later, even if it’s 9 PM at night.

Above all — Respect and honour the muse

Be grateful to be given the gift of storytelling. Be grateful for completing a word, a sentence, a paragraph, a page. Be grateful to family who support this endeavour. Be grateful for good health, pets, and good friends.