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Sibella Giorello posted this on her blog. Love it.
In 1959, an American schoolgirl appealed to C. S. Lewis for writing advice, and he sent her a list of eight rules for good writing:
1. Turn off the radio [and television].
2. Read good books and avoid most magazines.
3. Write with the ear, not the eye. Make every sentence
sound good.
4. Write only about things that interest you. If you have no
interests, you won’t ever be a writer.
5. Be clear. Remember that readers can’t know your mind. Don’t forget to tell them exactly what they
need to know to understand you.
6. Save odds and ends of writing attempts, because you may be able to use them later.
7. You need a well-trained sense of word-rhythm, and the noise of a typewriter will interfere.
8. Know the meaning of every word you use.
Source: C. S. Lewis. Collected Letters. New York: Harcourt, Brace and World, 1966, 291-292. Quoted in Kathryn Lindskoog, Creative Writing for People Who Can’t Not Write. Grand Rapids, Michigan: Zondervan Publishing House, 1989, 253.
What about you? What is the best writing advice you’ve received?
Good advice. I printed it out.
Best writing advice I ever received is similar to #4.
Write about that which inspires you, that which you are passionate about.
I agree, Jim! When I started doing that–writing what I was passionate about and not only what I thought would get published–I got published. Go figure!
Also, #3 is very important to me. After I write a chapter I have my computer read it back to me. It makes a HUGE difference!
I’m with you and Jim. I have to feel passionately about something or a character before I even begin the first word.
~ Wendy
I should post #2 at the magazine where I work! But his advice on reading good books is absolutely essential. That changed my writing (even at the lowly magazine level).
Wendy, I find myself rewriting the first chapter at least 10 times until I figure out that character and the motivation/problem.
Megan…ooops! Actually do read magazines a lot and write for them, but the good books have to fit in there, too!
That’s great advice. My fiction instructor is always telling us “read, read, read” and I’ve heard that from lots of other places too. When I was a teenager, reading was what inspired me to write. I do think that we learn rather unconsciously while reading – absorbing what works – so that it improves our writing. 🙂
I was told to write every day!!! Words do not appear magically out of thin area, they must be put down on paper to be called writing.
Turn off the television and the radio – and these days, turn off the internet. I find that the internet is one of my biggest distractions and temptations.