If I were asked to name the most important items in a writer’s make-up, the things that shape his material and rush him where he wants to go, I could only warn him to look to his zest, see to his gusto. ~ Ray Bradbury
writing tips
Thoughts on Writing by Ray Bradbury
For the next (fill in a number) days I will present Thoughts on Writing by Ray Bradbury from his book, Zen in the Art of Writing.
I’ve read Bradbury’s book four times and I’m starting my fifth read. Beginning tomorrow, I will share Ray Bradbury’s wisdom on writing as I re-read his book. ENJOY.
11 Writing Tips from Henry Miller Tip 6
Tipe 6: Cement a little every day, rather than add new fertilizers.
11 Writing Tips from Henry Miller Tip 5
Tip 5: When you can’t create you can work.
11 Writing Tips from Henry Miller ~ Tip 1
Tip 1. Work on one thing at a time until finished.
Tip 6 of 6 Writing Tips by George Orwell
Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous ~ George Orwell
Tip 1 of 7 Writing Tips by F. Scott Fitzgerald
Start by taking notes.
You must begin by making notes. You may have to make notes for years…. When you think of something, when you recall something, put it where it belongs. Put it down when you think of it. You may never recapture it quite as vividly the second time.
Source: Open Culture
Tip 6 of William Faulkner’s 7 Fiction Writing Tips
Don’t exhaust your imagination.
The only rule I have is to quit while it’s still hot. Never write yourself out. Always quit when it’s going good. Then it’s easier to take it up again. If you exhaust yourself, then you’ll get into a dead spell and you’ll have trouble with it.
Source: Open Culture
Tip 4 of William Faulkner’s 7 Fiction Writing Tips
Know your characters well and the story will write itself.
I would say to get the character in your mind. Once he is in your mind, and he is right, and he’s true, then he does the work himself. All you need to do then is to trot along behind him and put down what he does and what he says. It’s the ingestion and then the gestation. You’ve got to know the character. You’ve got to believe in him. You’ve got to feel that he is alive, and then, of course, you will have to do a certain amount of picking and choosing among the possibilities of his action, so that his actions fit the character which you believe in. After that, the business of putting him down on paper is mechanical.
Source: Open Culture
Tip 3 of 7 Writing Fiction Tips by William Faulkner
Write from experience–but keep a very broad definition of “experience.”
To me, experience is anything you have perceived. It can come from books, a book that–a story that–is true enough and alive enough to move you. That, in my opinion, is one of your experiences. You need not do the actions that the people in that book do, but if they strike you as being true, that they are things that people would do, that you can understand the feeling behind them that made them do that, then that’s an experience to me. And so, in my definition of experience, it’s impossible to write anything that is not an experience, because everything you have read, have heard, have sensed, have imagined is part of experience.
Source: Open Culture
