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Thursday, June 12, 2008

One, Two, Three


"There are three rules to writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are." --W. Somerset Maugham

Question of the month: What are the three?

12 comments:

Kate Evans said...

1. Put your butt in the chair every day.

2. Write on a laptop that doesn't connect to the internet.

3. "You are freer than you think." (Foucault)

Writer, Rejected said...

Nice!

Anonymous said...

1. Don't.
2. Stop.
3. Writing.

Anonymous said...

Start. Continue. End.

Ro-Beast Rollie said...

Location, location, location.

Shit, no wait, that's something else. I'm screwed.

Writer, Rejected said...

Location, as in how close to someone in publishing power are you?

Jenny said...

I like Kate's. They are perfect.

However.

My three are:

1. When you think of it, write it down.

2. When you are not writing, be reading.

3. Never take counsel of your fears.

Leigh Purtill said...

I vote for Kate's first 2 and would add:

3. Don't rewrite until you're finished.

Writer, Rejected said...

I revise incessantly: from first word to last, and then some. Why wait until your finished? You think that it preserves some original creative intent? Maybe so. Never thought about it that way.

Leigh Purtill said...

w, r - for me it's less about creative intent than it is about actually finishing the book. If I spend time rewriting (which I know I have to do anyway), I won't ever finish.

Anonymous said...

I wish I knew! Kate's advice is gold. Now if only I could disconnect myself from internet and listen...

annie said...

Write a memoir instead.

Kidding, kidding. Here are some of my 'rules' for real:

1. Write something you'd want to read.
2. Have fun with it; write because you want to write it, not because you want to publish it.
3. Don't play your computer's solitaire. (Geez, I always trick myself into "Just one more win...")