A lot of people will offer you advice when you show them
your work. Some of it is useful, and
some of it isn’t. In the world of writing,
different things work for different people.
Here, I’ve collected advice from some of my favorite writers, and thrown
in my opinion for each one. Some of them
are interesting from a historical standpoint and some may even by apocryphal,
but if you get anything out of what they have to say, you’ll be a better writer
for it.
1.
Earnest Hemingway - “Write drunk, edit sober.”
This piece of advice isn’t the greatest,
and is probably one of the apocryphal ones I mentioned above. Hemingway wasn’t prone to doling out advise
about writing. Another one of his famous
quotes, “There is nothing to writing.
All you do is sit down at a typewriter and bleed,” was, I think, a
cheeky way getting around giving advice.
One thing I did pick up from Hemingway, is that he wrote standing
up. I don’t always do this, but sometimes
it helps to get the blood flowing. And
like the man said, you got to bleed.
2. F. Scott Fitzgerald
Fitzgerald was a sickly fellow and wrote a
lot in bed. I’ve never managed to be
able to do that, but it seemed to work out for him. The advice I found most helpful was a piece
he gave to his daughter, Scotty. He told
her when writing a short story, get it all down in one sitting. It helps to preserve the emotion and tone of
the story. If you can’t get it all down,
then always read up to where you left off before beginning again. Getting it all down in one sitting is hard for
me, because I’m a slow writer. But it
does help to read up to where I left off before beginning again.
He also told her, “Nothing any good, isn’t
hard.” Ain’t that the truth.
3.
John Steinbeck
Steinbeck was a bit of a curmudgeon. He wrote everything in pencil and the only
person who could read his handwriting was his line editor. When she died, his publisher forced him to
start using a typewriter. To get back
them, he sent in a few pages typed in Russian.
One of the more useful pieces of advice I got comes from him. Pick one person, and write for them. For Steinbeck, it was his wife. I like to change it up, depending on the type
of story I’m writing. But if you get stuck,
its helpful sometimes to think about what that one person would find interesting
and kick the ball that way. Even if it’s
in Russian.
4.
William Faulkner
For a man who didn’t do many interviews,
Faulkner had a lot to say about writing.
He worked as the Writer-in-Residence at the University of Virginia in
the mid-fifties, and much of what he had to say to his students has been made
public. What he had to say about stopping
for the day has proved useful to me, especially when I’m working on a longer story. He said, “Never write yourself out. Always quit when it’s good. Then it’s easier to pick up again.” Basically, don’t exhaust yourself. If you burn to bright one night, it’s going
to be harder to get the flame going the next day. That’s not an excuse to write one paragraph
and call it a day.
5.
Raymond Chandler
Raymond Chandler, author of hard-boiled
detective stories who became a writer because he was broke, had this to say
about writer’s block.
“Throw up into your typewriter every
morning. Clean it every noon.” Chandler was an alcoholic, but I don’t think that’s
what he was referring too. If you’re
struggling to get started, just sit down and start typing words. Something will come of it. And if nothing does, do it again the next
morning. Eventually, if you keep at it,
something will come. Remember, nothing any
good is easy.
6.
Elmore Leonard
Elmore had a lot to say about writing. In fact, he had a list of ten rules he liked
to follow. I’ll let you look that up for
yourself. It’s short, and worth the
time. The one I like to keep in mind is “if
it sounds like writing, I re-write it.” If it sounds like writing, its boring. It’s hard enough to keep someone’s attention,
and if you bore them, they’ll close the book on you.
This guy’s written enough books to fill a
library, so even if you aren’t a fan, his advice is worth listening too. He’s even written books about it. The one I live by is, “Kill your darlings.” Kill them.
This pertains to editing. Once
you’ve written your story, put it away until you forget about it. Take it back out once you can read it objectively. Kill anything that doesn’t move the
story. Even if it took you two hours to
write that paragraph, if it sounds like writing, kill it. The delete button is there for a reason. You’d be surprised how fast your story jumps when
you take out the first few paragraphs.
Those first paragraphs were for you, not the ready. Kill them.
8.
Cormac McCarthy
McCarthy is one of our modern
recluses. Aside from his appearance on
Oprah promoting The Road, I have found very few interviews, either live or in
publications, that he has done. I did
come across one quote that applies. “I
believe in periods, in capitals, in the occasional comma, and that’s it.” If you’re familiar at all with his work, you’ll
know he doesn’t believe in quotation marks, or translating Spanish dialog. But the man is a genius and The Crossing is
one of the best books I have ever read.
What you can take from this quote, is keep it simple. Don’t try to thrill your readers with grandiose
phrases and hundred-dollar words. If it works
it works, but remember what Elmore said, if sounds like writing, rewrite it.
Another reclusive and another
curmudgeon. At least he appears to be in
his interviews, but that might be the old Texas sense of humor. His advice, and I’m sure all the writers I’ve
mentioned so far would agree, is “Read, read, read.” Read everything you can. Even if your favorite genre is horror, or
steampunk, read something you would never read.
Bust out a historical romance. Or
a fantasy. Or true crime. Just read everything you can, especially the
classics. See how the masters did. See how the contemporaries do it. If you’re not writing, then you should be
reading. It’s the only way to learn what
works. Read!
10.
Truman Capote
“You must get into the habit of writing,
even if it is only a paragraph a day.”
This is a must. Capote, who wasn’t really very prolific, was
one of the sharpest scribes who ever put pen to paper. The only way to do that is to keep the pen
sharp. Exercise it every day. If you only have time for a paragraph, then
write that paragraph. But write it. You’ll be surprised at how much easier it gets
if you do it every day. Soon you’ll be
doing a page a day. Some writers set a word count for the day. Some do a page count. Do what works for you, but get it down. Anything.
Start a journal. Make a
list. Just write something everyday to
exercise that muscle and keep it in shape.
These tips aren’t for everybody. Use what you can and discard the rest because
no two writers are the same. I think
some of these tips are universal, especially the write everyday one and the
reading one. Do both of those as much as
you can and see where it takes you. The rest
is up to you.
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