Gems for writers

[Pari Noskin Taichert]

What is the single most valuable -- or important -- piece of advice you received from:
1. a writer
2. a bookseller
3. a reader
4. a reviewer
5. an editor
6. an agent

when you first started your journey as a
1. writer
2. published writer?

I can't wait to read these!

[Robert Gregory Browne]

I'd have nothing to cut. My first draft IS my second and my third and my fourth. I write like a movie director who doesn't bother with coverage and shoots only the angles he needs.

[Charles Kelly]

No question about this one: Write every day.

[Pari Noskin Taichert]

Yes. I think this one is critical.

[Stephen Blackmoore]

Duck.

Oh, wait. You meant writing advice?

A couple of things.

A writing teacher at UCLA taught me a lot about tight writing. If you don't need a word/paragraph/scene, ditch it. Really changed the way I look at it.

Another was from a friend who told me every scene must have a conflict. The scene begins when the conflict starts and it ends when there's some sort of resolution to it. Really helped a lot.

[Pari Noskin Taichert]

Wow. I'm learning so much with this topic. Thank you.

[Bill Cameron]

Make it shorter.

Lotsa folks have told me that, and they were all right.

[Pari Noskin Taichert]

oof.

[Pari Noskin Taichert]

Every one of your points is valuable. Thanks for taking the time to respond.

[Anita Bell]

Excellent questions to which Maria trumped the replies, I think.
Here's my 2 cents: (looking back over 6 years on various bestsellers lists in Oz)...
a) from the first published writer I met, I learned: "write what you know"... which you hear everywhere but in retrospect, only seems to come from people who *teach* writing, instead of making it to the top themselves, because this advice (whilst valuable to a point) runs the big risk of sending your career off on a side-track (albeit possibly a bestselling sidetrack) that you never expected, as it did with me. In hindsight, I'd suggest this advice should be "write what you're passionate about"... which may sound the same, but isn't. Writing what you're passionate about results in driving your writing career in a direction that gets more and more exciting as you go along, and it makes media events so much more enjoyable for everyone who comes (not just yourself)... whereas "writing what you know" can sometimes feel like a job (and even million dollar jobs have their down days.)

b) from a bookseller: how to stand your books up for display without needing a little plastic bookstand, which are never around when you need them. Unfortunately, it's a trick I'd have to illustrate, since it's a little difficult to explain in a short space.

c) from a reader: that no matter how much effort you put into your story, nor how much your reader pays for the book, the ideas are a GIFT to your reader and once you put your story out there, the reader has every right to place themselves into the characters' heads, take them to bed in their dreams, play with them in their own imaginations and interpret/misinterpret their future responses to other situations in any way they want. They just can't re-sell their versions for aprofit without formal approval of serialisation rights through the copyright owner and sub-licencer. (Usually the publisher who bought first or world rights.)

d) from a reviewer: I learned that only 99.99999% of readers are intelligent, worthwhile human beings.

e) from an editor: (one of my managing editors at random house) I learned not to quote other (living) authors too often in my non-fiction books. She told me (in her sweetest, kindest voice) "Anita, if we wanted to publish another author, we'd do it." ... so I learned that if you're contracted to write a (non-fiction) book it's because the publisher will be asserting/acknowledging YOU as the primary authority on that subject." And if you pull it off, that's how the media will percieve you ever after. Pretty powerful stuff actually, since it's the difference between shouldering above other competing books on the market, or just positioning yourself amongst your competitors. (E.g. In the crime genre, quoting crime proffesionals/criminals/law makers etc is perfectly okay, especially if you're a cop or other relevant professional yourself, but quoting other crime authors of non-fiction or fiction would be risky to sales and market positioning.)

f) from an agent: That you don't always need one :)

[Pari Noskin Taichert]

Holy cow. What great advice. I think I'm just going to roll around in everyone's perspectives for awhile. This is amazing.

Thank you, Anita.

[Pepper Smith]

"a) from the first published writer I met, I learned: "write what you know"... which you hear everywhere but in retrospect, only seems to come from people who *teach* writing, instead of making it to the top themselves"

Funny you should mention that--

I took a creative writing course under a published author who told me 'write what you know', with the idea of writing things from my own life. I told him, "I can't write about myself," and he said, "I can't either." (And, oddly, he almost sounded relieved that I'd said that.) So while they give that advice, they don't necessarily believe in it themselves.

[Jannie Balliett]

As a writer-- from another writer--edit and shorten it by cutting the unnecessary. By a reader- nothing but good remarks.

My personal, write freely then edit to cut the fat, then pick up again back on track.