Advice for Aspiring Writers

October 5, 2010


Here is the only advice I’m sure about. The hardest sentence to write is the first one. The next hardest is the second sentence, then the third. Most books fail because people never get the first sentence written. Sometimes they have a big idea and a vague outline, sometimes a detailed outline, sometimes only a few pieces of the puzzle. It doesn’t matter.

Don’t write simply to be published. Write because you have something to say. If it gets published, all the better. Just write.

You don’t have to start at the beginning. Very often you won’t know where to begin. Start with whatever you feel passionate about it. For the sake of illustration, suppose your book will have 28 chapters. Start in chapter 8 or chapter 22 or chapter 15.

You can do various parts, one at a time. Then you can hook them up later. You don’t have to know how everything will begin. Now if you already know that, fine, start at the beginning. But most of the time you won’t know.

One more thing. Don’t fall in love with your words. As someone has said, “There is no good writing, only good rewriting.” Hemingway rewrote the ending of one of his novels something like 26 times. When asked why, he replied as a true writer would, “To get the words right.” Perfectionism is the enemy of all good writing. Write what you can and make it better later. You can always improve what you write. You can’t improve what you don’t write.

Do you have any thoughts or questions about this post?