Writer Wisdom Sunday

Every Sunday until November and unless I have a guest, I will share words of wisdom from writers on writing. Enjoy!

When I was first starting out, I used to produce stories all the time. They would just appear, one right after the other. Now that I’ve gone to school and learned the craft, these things take much more time because every decision is a much more conscious decision

- Robin Black

 

Newsflash: no writer is superior to any other writer. Some may have more talent. Some have had more luck. But if you toil away at your computer, day after day, month after month, and finally reach that magic “the end”, you’re a writer

- Joe Konrath

 

Robert Heilein’s business rules:

1) you must write

2) you must finish what you write

3)you must not rewrite unless to editorial demand

4) you must mail your work to someone who can buy it

5) you must keep the work in the mail until someone buys it

 

If you are writing without zest, without gusto, without love, without fun, you are only half a writer.

- Ray Bradbury

 

That’s another reason why I have a certain scepticism about things like writing classes, MAs in Creative writing and writing groups; there’s a lot of effort focussed on homonegising the process, of reducing it to a formula that can be reproduced. Success in writing(by which I mean both the process of writing and of publishing success etc) is akin to the various versions of Chaos Theory; there are too many variables to be able to learn it like a paint by numbers flow chart kind of thing. Best to let the wind take you where it will; you may not learn how to fly but you will learn how to land!   

- Vivienne Tuffnell (author/blogger)