22nd
Six Rules For Writing Fiction
from The Guardian’s rules for writing fiction series
Try to think of others’ good luck as encouragement to yourself.
- Richard Ford
Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.
- Jonathan Franzen
You can never read your own book with the innocent anticipation that comes with that first delicious page of a new book, because you wrote the thing. You’ve been backstage. You’ve seen how the rabbits were smuggled into the hat. Therefore ask a reading friend or two to look at it before you give it to anyone in the publishing business. This friend should not be someone with whom you have a romantic relationship, unless you want to break up.
- Margaret Atwood
Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.
- PD James
Don’t romanticise your “vocation”. You can either write good sentences or you can’t. There is no “writer’s lifestyle”. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
- Zadie Smith
If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.
- Elmore Leonard
