Neil Gaiman is an established author of short fiction, novels, comic books, graphic novels, audio theatre and films.
He never graduated from college, but has given inspiring university graduation speeches.
He has mastered the art of communication and is an excellent communicator.
Here are his 8 rules of writing–so if you’re a writer or blogger, take note:
Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing
- Write
- Put one word after another. Find the right word, put it down.
- Finish what you’re writing. Whatever you have to do to finish it, finish it.
- Put it aside. Read it pretending you’ve never read it before. Show it to friends whose opinion you respect and who like the kind of thing that this is.
- Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.
- Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving.
- Laugh at your own jokes.
- The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
Good stuff.
I don’t know about you, but I’m ready to do some writing!!!
[via Brain Pickings]
Gabe Hoffman says
“Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.”
I like number 5 a lot, it embraces a really good tension that creatives of all sorts have own up to.
Eric Dye says
Agreed. Good stuff. 🙂
Paul Clifford (@PodcastinChurch) says
#5 is why I’m recruiting beta readers for my next book. I want to launch it after a dozen people have read it (myself not included). So far, I’ve got 10.
I think 1-3 are the most important ones, though. If you don’t write and don’t finish, those ideas get stuck in your head and you can never get them to leave you alone. It’s only in sharing the ideas that your RAM gets freed up to take on new ideas.
Paul
Eric Dye says
Nice analogy! I love it!