Chris Stralyn's Blog, page 9

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #38- Avoid Clichés and Stock Phrases

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #38- Avoid Clichés and Stock Phrases “You have only words. Don’t combine them in predictable ways. If a reader can anticipate how you’re going to end a phrase, you’re ‘dead in the water’. An editor might let you get by with one, very deep, in a two hundred page manuscript. Any more and you’re  rejected.”


Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry,(http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #37- The “As” Clause is for Amateurs

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #37- The “As” Clause is for Amateurs “When ‘as’ works as a
conjunction, meaning ‘happening at the same time,’ it tends to weaken the power of the two clauses it conjoins. Avoid using ‘as’ clauses except when absolutely necessary.”


Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #36- Try Not to Overdo It

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #36- Try Not to Overdo It “Beware of contrived lyrical  embellishment and fluffy metaphors. Write purple prose and you accomplish the opposite of what you intended, which is to create beauty.”


Taken from The  Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #35- Master Metaphor

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #35- Master Metaphor “…metaphor is the only one capable of  producing wonder, which gives birth to pleasure. And knowing how to conceive metaphors, and thus to see a world immensely more various than it appears to the uneducated, is an art that is learned.” 
 
Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Book-Wisdom-Mastering/dp/1582974942)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #34- Buy and Study a Grammar Book

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #34- Buy and Study a Grammar Book. “Grammar is the least exciting necessity of the craft. Writers begrudge it the same way house builders begrudge the tedium of foundation work.  But without it you appear slovenly and uneducated. So take a little time to get acquainted with the English language, the medium of your  art.


Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #33- Think of Writing as a Hobby

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #33- Think of Writing as a Hobby. “The best part about writing as a hobby is the mindset. What you create is just for fun, its motive a pure childlike fascination with constructing something you’re proud of, something to show your mom and dad.”


Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #32- Write As Therapy

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #32- Write As Therapy. “An ancillary benefit of writing  creatively, besides the joy of crafting fine sentences, is that it gives you purpose and process. You’re engaged in a fascinating exploration of intellect and emotion. One manuscript ends. Another begins.”

 Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #31- Carry A Camera

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #31- Carry A Camera. “If on your journey through life you are struck by a beautiful or provocative scene and there’s not enough time for notes, take a picture. Painters are notorious for keeping cameras close by so they may capture inspiring images to transfer to canvas later. Since you’re a painter in words, do the same.”

Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Book-Wisdom-Mastering/dp/1582974942

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #30- Subscribe to Magazines

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #30- Subscribe to Magazines.  “In the following order, read: The
New Yorker, Vanity Fair, Esquire, The Atlantic Monthly, The New York Time Book Review, The Nation, Writers Digest, The Times Library Supplement, Publishers Weekly (expensive!) Time, Newsweek, Rolling Stone, Playboy, People, The Writers Chronicle, and a quality literary review like The Iowa Review or The Paris Review. In these pages you will see work by our finest contemporary writers, reviews of current books, surveys of the publishing  market, and guidelines for writers. Such magazines are indispensable. Study  them.”

Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry, (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #29- Feed On Words

Writer’s Wisdom -Rule #29- Feed On Words. “Get yourself a good dictionary. The best and biggest you can afford. Then buy or build a nice wooden stand that will keep the dictionary open all the time. Place this treasure on your desk. Read the
dictionary often. The loose words will inspire you to join some together.” 


Taken from The Writer’s Book of Wisdom - 101 Rules for Mastering Your Craft, by Steven Taylor Goldsberry.  (http://www.amazon.com/The-Writers-Boo...)