Janet Fitch's Ten Rules for Writers
Okay, I feel like I've spent too much time lately blogging about — and definitely waaaay too much time thinking about — the changing publishing landscape, and how, where, when and why writers in the twenty-first century can and should get there words in print and in their readers' hot little hands.
By now you're probably thinking, "That's all very well and good, Montoure, but what about the writing? What about the art and craft of creating those words in the first place?"
Oh, yeah. That.
Here are a few words from someone who definitely has given the art of writing some thought. I often find these "rules for writing" lists kind of useless, but this one is really good. Here are the first two:
1. Write the sentence, not just the story
Long ago I got a rejection from the editor of the Santa Monica Review, Jim Krusoe. It said: "Good enough story, but what's unique about your sentences?" That was the best advice I ever got. Learn to look at your sentences, play with them, make sure there's music, lots of edges and corners to the sounds. Read your work aloud. Read poetry aloud and try to heighten in every way your sensitivity to the sound and rhythm and shape of sentences. The music of words. I like Dylan Thomas best for this–the Ballad of the Long-Legged Bait. I also like Sexton, Eliot, and Brodsky for the poets and Durrell and Les Plesko for prose. A terrific exercise is to take a paragraph of someone's writing who has a really strong style, and using their structure, substitute your own words for theirs, and see how they achieved their effects.
2. Pick a better verb
Most people use twenty verbs to describe everything from a run in their stocking to the explosion of an atomic bomb. You know the ones: Was, did, had, made, went, looked… One-size-fits-all looks like crap on anyone. Sew yourself a custom made suit. Pick a better verb. Challenge all those verbs to really lift some weight for you.
– Janet Fitch's 10 rules for writers | Jacket Copy | Los Angeles Times.
Definitely worth checking out the rest. Go, make with the clicking.
One of these days, I should think about compiling my own list of "rules" for writing. When I do, you'll find it here first, natch.
