Famous Writer's Advice..

[Charissa]

I'm curious as to what your favourite piece of advice is, in regards to writing...

To start off... here is one by Jane Austen:

(About Pride and Prejudice) There are a few typical errors; and a 'said he', or a 'said she', would sometimes make the dialog more immediately clear: but
I do not write for such dull elves
As have not a great deal of ingenuity themselves

[motormind]

With me it's "Never complain, never explain." Okay, it's by Henry Ford II, and he is not a writer, but it's good advice nevertheless.

[Mumut]

The harder you work, the luckier you get.

[Danthia]

Don't get it right, get it written. --Ally Carter

[callalily61]

If you had your heart's choice, what piece of writing in all the world would you most want to read? Then sit down shamelessly and write the thing yourself. --JD Salinger

[YAwriter72]

"You can't edit a blank page" - I believe Nora Roberts said it.

[Telstar]

Mine is in my signature :)

[Amarie]

"I try to leave out the parts that people skip." ~Elmore Leonard

[Amarie]

Here's a more serious one, and an excellent explanation of 'show, don't tell'.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

[callalily61]

Here's a more serious one, and an excellent explanation of 'show, don't tell'.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

That's a great one.

[DeleyanLee]

"You can't edit a blank page" - I believe Nora Roberts said it.

The total quote, IIRC, is "I can fix a bad page; I can't fix a blank one."

It is Nora Roberts. She's said it many times. I even heard her say it once. ;)

[backslashbaby]

~~~
In truly good writing no matter how many times you read it you do not know how it is done. That is because there is mystery in all great writing and that mystery does not dissect out.

-- Hemingway, 1952

[OddButInteresting]

Here's a more serious one, and an excellent explanation of 'show, don't tell'.

"Don't tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass." ~Anton Chekhov

I don't vouch for that, personally. Simply because it's often unecessary.

That said, it does depend. If I pick-up a Literary Fiction book then I'm going to expect such attention to detail. On the other hand, If I pick-up a Thriller...

See where I'm going with this?

And as for my favourite quote, the marketing monkeys at Nike hit the nail on the head: "Just Do It". I tell that to anyone I meet who starts ranting on about this revolutionary idea for a plot that's supposedly just dying to be committed to paper.

When I want to know about your ideas, I will read them when they have been presented in a manner that I can follow logically from beginning to end.

And as I've now finished the full outline for my debut novel, I am going to start actually writing the thing tonight. Oh, the suspense!

[DeleyanLee]

I don't know if he's a writer, but one of my favorites:

"Make it work." -- Tim Gunn

[ChaosTitan]

The total quote, IIRC, is "I can fix a bad page; I can't fix a blank one."

It is Nora Roberts. She's said it many times. I even heard her say it once. ;)

This. :)

[Amarie]

I don't vouch for that, personally. Simply because it's often unecessary.

That said, it does depend. If I pick-up a Literary Fiction book then I'm going to expect such attention to detail. On the other hand, If I pick-up a Thriller...

See where I'm going with this?

!

Even in non-literary fiction you show rather than tell, especially through dialogue. Here's an example:

Tell:
Luke knew the helicopter was going to crash. He was scared. He yelled to Callie and Theo to run.

Show:
“Get out of the way!” Luke screamed. He flung himself at Callie and Theo, both standing transfixed at the sight of the helicopters tangled together. “Run! Run! They’re going to crash.”

[OddButInteresting]

Even in non-literary fiction you show rather than tell, especially through dialogue. Here's an example:

Tell:
Luke knew the helicopter was going to crash. He was scared. He yelled to Callie and Theo to run.

Show:
“Get out of the way!” Luke screamed. He flung himself at Callie and Theo, both standing transfixed at the sight of the helicopters tangled together. “Run! Run! They’re going to crash.”

Oh, that's perfectly understandable. It's just a matter of realising when you're taking it too far. Like writing two straight pages describing a small, insignificant object, for example.

But as I said before, such a style is expected in certain genres.

[Jake G]

"Just finish the damn novel." - Hemingway.

When you're ready to give up because you think it's trash, he's always there to call you a wimp.

[dolores haze]

"Caress the detail, the divine detail." - Nabokov

And the entirety of 'The Writing Life' by Annie Dillard. The whole book is quotable, bur here's a favorite:

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now."

[BenPanced]

I don't know if he's a writer, but one of my favorites:

"Make it work." -- Tim Gunn
A homemade LiveJournal icon:

http://pics.livejournal.com/benpanced/pic/00087wsc

And he has written a book on fashion and personal style, so he qualifies.

During an appearance at a bookstore in Milwaukee, I asked Armistead Maupin what advice he had for aspiring authors. He said, "Write. Get it out there. Make your name known." Who knew the simplest advice would be the most complicated?

[yakkity]

Any writer, I suppose, feels that the world into which he was born is nothing less than a conspiracy against the cultivation of his talent.

James Baldwin

[kidcharlemagne]

Writing is easy: All you do is sit staring at a blank sheet of paper until drops of blood form on your forehead. ~Gene Fowler

[kidcharlemagne]

Success is a few simple disciplines practiced every day.

The last 6,000 years can be summed up in one sentence: opportunity mixed with difficulty

Jim Rohn - Business Philosopher

[KTC]

"I didn't stop to think about what I was doing or what the critics would think of it and, sweetest of all, I didn't give a single thought to what I was trying to say. I just wrote." ~ Michael Chabon

"If a writer doesn't give away secrets, his own or those of the people he loves, if he doesn't court disapproval, reproach and general wrath, whether of friends, family or party apparatchiks ... the result is pallid, inanimate, a lump of earth." ~ Michael Chabon

.

[willietheshakes]

.

Chabon is near the very top of my list of writers I'd like to have a beer with.

[bettielee]

" I hold a beast, an angel, and a madman in me, and my enquiry is as to their working, and my problem is their subjugation and victory, down throw and upheaval, and my effort is their self-expression."

Dylan Thomas

I have this in every single journal I use/write in.

[KTC]

Chabon is near the very top of my list of writers I'd like to have a beer with.

definitely. I'd even drink beer to do it.

[Lady Ice]

Action is character. (F. Scott Fitzgerald)

[Cuppa]

I am keeping this in mind, not worrying about the writing details (show or tell, switching plot details, revising while writing), but focusing on the meat of the plot, the characters, and just making sure the writing has tension and action.-

“A movie should be there in rough cut,” the film editor Paul Hirsch once told me. The same is true of books. I think it’s rare that incoherence or dull storytelling can be solved by something so minor as a second draft. -Stephen King

Hope I didn't misunderstand King :D.

Another good one-

"Omit needless words! Omit needless words! Omit needless words!" -From William Strunk, co-author of The Elements of Style.

[VChandler]

"A professional writer is an amateur who didn't quit."
Richard Bach

That one has been particularly helpful for me since I'm the worlds biggest over-thinker and procrastinator!

[seun]

I can't remember the exact quote, but Stephen King said something along the lines of:

Read a lot. Write a lot.

Simple, but it works for me.

[mscelina]

My favorite piece of advice is actually acting advice, but it applies equally to all the arts.

When Dustin Hoffman and Laurence Olivier were doing Goldman's Marathon Man, Hoffman (a devotee of the Stanislavsky method) allegedly went three days without sleep, in order to get into character for Babe's emotional and physical state.

...and the origins of a legendary exchange between Hoffman and Olivier that illustrates the differences in their performing styles. (After going sleepless for days to simulate Babe's frazzled state, Olivier asked Hoffman, "Dear boy, why don't you just act?").


http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/marathonman.htm (http://www.filmfreakcentral.net/dvdreviews/marathonman.htm)

This story is urban legend and taken out of context (according to both Hoffman and Olivier) but it encapsulates the best advice from one, more experienced artist to another.
Just act. Just write. Just paint. Just compose. But all the other components of your craft to one side and just perform the creative process without all that extra baggage you give yourself because of what is popular among your peers.

*shrug*

It has worked for me.

[Cliff Face]

"I love deadlines. I love the whooshing sound they make as they go by." - Douglas Adams.

[Delhomeboy]

"The first draft of anything is shit."

--Hemingway

Trust me, remembering this after finishing a day's writing where I feel I've absolutely reached new levels of sucking is a great comfort.

[Sai]

This isn't from Margeret Atwood, but it's from a book of hers. I apply it to just about everything in life, not just writing:
"Good judgement comes from experiance. Experiance comes from bad judgement."

[Cliff Face]

"Good judgement comes from experiance. Experiance comes from bad judgement."

^- new life motto. :)

[motormind]

"Good judgement comes from experiance. Experiance comes from bad judgement."

^- new life motto. :)

Mine is: "Proper spelling matters."

[SarahMacManus]

They're both in my sig block. :)

And one more "Editors like the taste of something better after they get a chance to piss in it." (Which I think was Heinlein, although I may misremember.)

[willietheshakes]

Mine is: "Proper spelling matters."

:Clap:

Nicely played.

[Sai]

Mine is: "Proper spelling matters."

Heh, my bad. But now I will never again misspell experience. It's kind of funny actually, because the line I quoted pretty much boils down to 'learn from your mistakes.'

[Cliff Face]

*Laughs*

[mscelina]

Um, just so you know--judgment only has one *e* in it too.

Good judgment comes from experience. Experience comes from bad judgment."

[Cliff Face]

Well I'll be damned... it IS spelled Judgment... I've always put an extra E in there. For some reason I thought it was like humor/humour - I thought in Australia and probably England that judgment was spelled judgement.

Colour me tutored!

[cptwentworth]

Don't use words too big for the subject. Don't say "infinitely" when you mean "very"; otherwise you'll have no word left when you want to talk about something really infinite.
C. S. Lewis

[gypsyscarlett]

"Even in literature and art, no man who bothers about originality will ever be original: whereas if you simply try to tell the truth (without caring twopence how often it has been told before) you will, nine times out of ten, become original without ever having noticed it."- C.S. Lewis

[cathyfreeze]

"One of the few things I know about writing is this: spend it all, shoot it, play it, lose it all, right away, every time. Do not hoard what seems good for a later place in the book, or for another book; give it, give it all, give it now."

I *like* this a lot. So many writers wanna keep secrets from their audience that the PoV characters know. Kills me dead.

Who said this?

cat

[AuburnAssassin]

Well I'll be damned... it IS spelled Judgment... I've always put an extra E in there. For some reason I thought it was like humor/humour - I thought in Australia and probably England that judgment was spelled judgement.

Colour me tutored!

Don't feel bad. According to the dictionary, "judgement" is an alternate spelling, mostly used by the British, though it's not the preferred spelling. I have a hard time dropping the first "e" (and I'm not British) but usually my spell check "fixes" it for me.

[willietheshakes]

My personal favourite (and a sig for one of my email accounts):

The secret of writing:
"You must learn to overcome your very natural and
appropriate revulsion for your own work." -- William Gibson

[HelloKiddo]

Thanks to Gillhoughly, who posted this first on another thread.

"No great writer has ever been a wimp."

Joe Bob Briggs

[AnonymousWriter]

Mines are in my signature.

[HannaRay]

Most memorable, if not particularly helpful: "There are three rules to writing a novel and nobody knows what they are." Wm. Somerset Maugham

[Raphee]

This isn't from Margeret Atwood, but it's from a book of hers. I apply it to just about everything in life, not just writing:
"Good judgement comes from experiance. Experiance comes from bad judgement."

From her book The Blind Assassin. Worth reading.