Dear Readers,
I have just come from a wonderful writers' conference and met a number of interesting and eager new writers. Perhaps you know some, too. You know the sort: full of wonderful ideas, but also a bit nervous about this whole writing venture. They hope that there is some simple, easy way to learn how to work word magic like the pros.
Well, fortunately, many of the pros have told us what has worked for them. In fact, many have boiled their advice down to a list of rules--or some might say commandments--for writers.
The most famous of these lists might be the one from Elmore Leonard, the author of Get Shorty, and about 40 other books. He said to never start a book with the weather, leave out the parts that readers skip, and many other helpful hints.
Margaret Atwood has her own list of commandments, some of which are just practical advice rather than how or what to write, such as: Do back exercises; pain is distracting.
National Book Award winner Joyce Carol Oates has 10 tips, beginning and ending with "Write your heart out!"
Kurt Vonnegut's list of 8 tips includes "pity the reader." Oh my! What do we do with that one?
Stephen King wrote a whole book, On Writing, but he has also given us 10 videos on various aspects of the craft. One is, "The road to Hell is paved with adverbs." Since it's Stephen King, he probably knows what he's talking about!
Neil Gaiman advises us to laugh at our own jokes, among his 8 Rules of Writing. But he reminds us that being a writer is hard work.
British/Jamaican writer Zadie Smith has some great advice, including to read a lot when you're a child. Some of us are fortunate to have had kind of childhood--and to provide it for those future writers who are currently young children.
Henry Miller's list has 11 Commandments. For an author known for breaking the rules, that's impressive. Number 5 is "When you can't create, you can work." Good advice for those battling writers block.
While Agatha Christie didn't leave us with a list of rules, she did give us some (sometimes humorous) advice through her character Ariadne Oliver--a friend of her famous detective Hercule Poirot.
Edgar Allan Poe's advice applies both to fiction and poetry. And it's not the least bit scary. Well, no scarier than writing is already.
P.D. James gave us her 10 rules, and reminds us that nothing that happens, good or bad, is ever lost to a writer. All of life is research. Since she continued to publish until her death at age 94, it's no mystery that she had a lot of material to work with in her several series and her stand-alone novels such as Children of Men.
But why stop with 10 tips, when you can have 31? Jack Kerouac's tips march to the beat of a different drummer.
Speaking of which, did Henry David Thoreau have writing tips? Of course he did!
Jane Austen left her advice to her niece, a budding novelist, in the form of letters. Upon Austen's death, her sister destroyed many of the author's letters, so writers are fortunate that these have survived 200 years.
George Orwell followed his own advice to be succinct in his 6 rules for writing. Even though they were offered most of a century ago, they are still useful for writers in the modern era.
The pithy advice of several writers can be found here. Some are be boiled down to one line. Harper Lee advises: Any writer worth his salt writes to please himself... It's a self-exploratory operation that is endless. An exorcism of not necessarily his demon, but of his divine discontent. She adds that new writers would be wise to develop a thick skin.
While all of this is good advice, emerging writers might want to take all of the "Commandments" with a large grain of salt. Stories and books are only created by following Dorothy Parker's advice and focusing on the job of writing. Each writer must discover the best way to serve his or her muse. After all, as Carl Sandburg said, "Beware of advice--even this." Or, as Thoreau pointed out,"Any fool can make a rule, and every fool will mind it."
So stop fooling around--and WRITE!
Betty Wryte-Goode
Betty Wryte-Goode is a writer and mother who lives in the Lehigh Valley. Her passions include writing, reading, shopping, gardening, and exploring the internet. Betty is always looking for writing tips, so if you have any you would like to share, please send them to her through our Submissions/Contacts page.