Ten rules of writing (minus five)
I'm going through all my stuff, tossing things. In excavating a box of school stuff, I found notes from a teachers/literacy conference I went to in the mid-eighties, before I got an agent. My notes were scribbled while I was standing, because I got late to a one-person panel by a New York agent who was giving a talk on the Ten Rules for Writers. Turned out the room was absolutely packed, and he was already halfway through when we got there.
This was before internet and ebooks, but I thought it worth typing up these notes before I toss the notebook.
6. Every writer believes that his work is unique, his style poetic, his plots dynamic, his characters live and breathe, that he is a genius. Every writer.
7. Those who complain the loudest about schlockmeisters in mass market are not better as writers, they just aren't selling.
8. If you have a pet theme, write an essay. If you must form a novel around it, then give it to your antagonist, and put your protagonist in opposition. This might not make a better story, but it ought to help you resist the impulse to preach at the reader.
9. There are all kinds of reasons for writing fiction, but 'writing for success' is the worst, because 'success' is a mirage. The harder you chase it, the faster it recedes.
10. Take tea with Aunt Minnie. Everyone has an Aunt Minnie. She thinks you're a slacker. She loves to point out your faults. She lives to tell you how to do whatever you do better. Take tea regularly with Aunt Minnie, and you'll be in practice for the critics.
This was before internet and ebooks, but I thought it worth typing up these notes before I toss the notebook.
6. Every writer believes that his work is unique, his style poetic, his plots dynamic, his characters live and breathe, that he is a genius. Every writer.
7. Those who complain the loudest about schlockmeisters in mass market are not better as writers, they just aren't selling.
8. If you have a pet theme, write an essay. If you must form a novel around it, then give it to your antagonist, and put your protagonist in opposition. This might not make a better story, but it ought to help you resist the impulse to preach at the reader.
9. There are all kinds of reasons for writing fiction, but 'writing for success' is the worst, because 'success' is a mirage. The harder you chase it, the faster it recedes.
10. Take tea with Aunt Minnie. Everyone has an Aunt Minnie. She thinks you're a slacker. She loves to point out your faults. She lives to tell you how to do whatever you do better. Take tea regularly with Aunt Minnie, and you'll be in practice for the critics.