Category Archive: Writer’s Rules

A collection of famous writers' "rules"

Nov 18

What Is Your Voice And How Do You Express It?

Some writers spend years finding their voices, finding their points of view in their writing. Too often it’s the voice of successful, classical writers English literature courses key in on. New writers who spend years trying to emulate the voices of their favorite writer are squandering their time and effort. You already have a voice …

Continue reading »

May 06

Finishing What You Start (on 2nd Thought)

While it is true that if you’re going to be a professional writer, you have to finish what you start — half or even 7/8 of a story isn’t something you can sell or even give away. You have to work on pieces for which you have a passion. What I’ve recently discovered is there …

Continue reading »

Mar 12

JACK R. STANLEY’S RULE FOR FICTION WRITING

1.  Respect your audience enough to get the basics right; spelling, grammar, and punctuation. 2.  We don’t have to love or even like your main character but we better find him/her arresting and utterly fascinating or we won’t love your work well enough to finish it. 3.  Your main character shouldn’t be a victim, a …

Continue reading »

Mar 12

ELMORE LEONARD’S 10 RULES

Never open a book with weather. Avoid prologues. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said”…he admonished gravely. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or      three per 100,000 words of prose. Never use the words “suddenly” or …

Continue reading »

Mar 12

Mark Twain’s Rules of Writing

This was taken from Mark Twain‘s 1895 essay “Fenimore Cooper‘s Literary Offenses”, which is mainly a criticism of Cooper’s story “The Deerslayer“. Twain wrote: “I may be mistaken, but it does seem to me that “Deerslayer” is not a work of art in any sense; it does seem to me that it is destitute of …

Continue reading »

Mar 12

7 Rules from Famous Writers on Writing

1. Substitute “damn” every time you’re inclined to write “very”. Your editor will delete it and the writing will be just as it should be. Mark Twain 2. The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shockproof shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it. Ernest …

Continue reading »

Mar 12

W. Somerset Maugham

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

Mar 11

Pixar’s 22 Rules of Storytelling

(These rules were originally tweeted by Emma Coates, Pixar’s Story Artist. Number 9 on the list – When you’re stuck, make a list of what wouldn’t happen next – is a great one and can apply to writers in all genres.) 1.You admire a character for trying more than for their successes. 2.You gotta keep …

Continue reading »

Mar 11

John Grisham’s 10 Commandmenst of Writing

1) Start with action; explain it later. 2) Make it tough for your protagonist. 3) Plant it early, pay it off later. 4) Give the protagonist the initiative. 5) Give the protagonist a personal stake. 6) Give the protagonist a short time limit; and then shorten it. 7) Choose your character according to your own …

Continue reading »