In a post on Lit Reactor, Richard Thomas shares the best and worst writing advice he’s ever heard.
The Best includes:
“In order to be a writer, you must do two things—you must read, and you must write.”—Stephen King
Writers read. Reading widely helps us learn craft skills and bring new elements to our favored genres.
“Today you are you, that is truer than true. There is no one alive who is youer than you.”—Dr. Seuss
“Find your voice, figure out what makes you different, tap into your culture, your orientation, your gender, your genres, you childhood, your work history, your romantic relationships, your family, and places you’ve lived,” Thomas says. Be inspired by multiple artists and cross-pollinate genres.
“It doesn’t have to be probable, it just has to be possible.”—various
“I like moments that are unlikely, strange, hard to believe…but I want my audience to take that leap of faith with me, and if I do my job, then they should be able to suspend that disbelief enough to let me lure them down the path and into the woods where I will show them that it’s true,” Thomas writes.
“Find a subject you care about and which you in your heart feel others should care about.”—Kurt Vonnegut
Before you write anything, you have to be interested in your own topic or theme. Take that feeling and run with it.
The Worst advice includes:
“Leave the slow reveal to the strippers.”—my MFA thesis director, Dale Ray Phillips
“There is nothing wrong with a slow reveal, a slow burn, a story doled out in pieces, bit by bit,” Thomas says. “The key is to not bore your audience, to give them little victories, to reveal as you foreshadow, to hint as you misdirect. No tangents, no red herrings, no padding.”
“Write what you know.”—anonymous
Your mileage may vary. You shouldn’t write from ignorance, or your work will sound inauthentic. But you can write what you feel and what you’ve learned.
“Never use prologues.”—various
You mileage may vary. Well written prologues work, unnecessary prologues do not.
