“Rules” for Writing Fiction

From the Guardian, a collection of Top Ten lists by authors on writing, inspired by Elmore Leonard’s soon-to-be published 10 Rules of Writing. There’s a lot of the usual: trust your instinct, read more, write consistently, blah, blah, blah.

But there are also some gems, such as:

Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak. But if the pencil breaks, you can’t sharpen it on the plane, because you can’t take knives with you. Therefore: take two pencils. (Margaret Atwood)

Keep a light, hopeful heart. But ­expect the worst. (Joyce Carol Oates)

Work on a computer that is disconnected from the ­internet. (Zadie Smith)

I found this linked to at Lit Life, The Morning News, and Arts & Letters Daily.

One Response to ““Rules” for Writing Fiction”

  1. Amy Says:

    I liked seeing Geoff Dyer on that list. He wrote a wildly funny book called Out of Sheer Rage, which is an entire nonfiction book about not writing a book about D.H. Lawrence. Really fun.