Tuesday 31 July 2012

You mean there are rules for writing?

Well no, not really. I mean yes, of course there are tips, things that help, things that are good practice. But rules? They're all made to be broken, at some point.

Anyway, I'm not going to give you my rules - who am I, after all? But I will offer some from other authors, famous authors, successful authors. You might like them. If nothing else, this might make a nice jumping-off point for you.

Here we go.

Thirteen writing tips from Chuck Palahniuk

George Orwell’s five rules for effective writing

Jack Kerouac’s rules for spontaneous prose


Stephen King's "Everything you need to know about writing successfully - in ten minutes"

And everyone else... including Elmore Leonard's famous ten rules, Diana Athill, Margaret Atwood, Roddy Doyle, Jonathan Franzen, Neil Gaiman, PD James, and more.

Edit:

Ray Bradbury's 12 pieces of writing advice to young authors (thanks Mark)

Colson Whitehead's rules for writing

David Morrell's five tips for writing thrillers and more

3 comments:

  1. And here's some from the late, great Mr Bradbury:

    http://www.openculture.com/2012/04/ray_bradbury_gives_12_pieces_of_writing_advice_to_young_authors_2001.html

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  2. Good call, Mark. Very good call.

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  3. I found your site by following a recent comment you've left on Harry Harrison's blog. These rules are very very informative and interesting. Thanks for posting!

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