Saved by sari
On Writing: A Memoir of the Craft
You begin to string words together like beads to tell a story. You are desperate to communicate, to edify or entertain, to preserve moments of grace or joy or transcendence, to make real or imagined events come alive. But you cannot will this to happen. It is a matter of persistence and faith and hard work. So you might as well just go ahead and ge... See more
Anne Lamott • Bird by Bird: Some Instructions on Writing and Life
- Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
- Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
- Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
- Every sentence must do one of two things — reveal character or advance the action.
- Start as close to the end as possib
Maria Popova • Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 Tenets of Storytelling
By using some of these collected phenomena bubbling in your head, you will have a book that has your stamp on it and is unlike any other. When I’m working with clients, I tell them to temporarily put aside considerations of others and of worldly success, and I ask that they make a list. What kind of list? It’s an inventory of everything that fascin
... See moreMark Levy • Accidental Genius: Using Writing to Generate Your Best Ideas, Insight, and Content
Now read your book from first page to last. If you find that you must make pencil markings, correct spelling, add missing words, retool sentences. . . be my guest.