The golden rules of writing. A guide for thought written for authors.

[gmw]

Originally Posted by Justin Nemo

Er.... by reading what I wrote?

Now who can't tell who's taking the ... ? Oh, the shortage of smilies!

[kennyc]

Whaaaa????

[frahse]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

13. Until you have a measure of success such that the average man on the street knows who you are, you shouldn't be making lists telling writers what to do, or not do.

I have to differ here. The brush you are using, dadioflex, is ill fitting. Being a good author doesn't give you the publicity that one run on American Idol does for previously unknown singers and I couldn't tell you any of the winners on that show beyond Carrie Underwood, and I don't watch American Idol. I just like her and I keep hearing that she won it one year.


I would say that most here in this erudite group at MR could not name the fiction authors that had a book sell 50,000 or more copies last year, or whose books have sold a total of 100,000 copies over the last 5 years and most here would say that those were reasonably proficient authors, though they haven't attained wild success.

Probably only a few here could name all the authors that had one book sell 1 Million copies in any year of the last 10. Those we might consider having something close to what many here at MR would consider wild success, especially if they had duplicated that feat more than once.

Further I would say that being able to sell "One Million" in one year or even achieve that number in each of several years doesn't enable one to be the best "how to do list" writer for other writers.

There are some books that make a lot of money that I consider drivel, and other very good books by stereotype "starving authors" that nobody knows.

[VydorScope]

Heck I could not name all the authors I read this year, never mind the lists Fashe mentioned. One of the things I like about being an author is that very very few people would notice me on the street. To date only one reader has noticed me in public and walked up to me to say hi. Im good with that. Very good.

[crich70]

14. If the story you are writing doesn't catch your interest it won't catch anyone else's interest either. The lack of interest on the part of the author will show through every time.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by crich70

14. If the story you are writing doesn't catch your interest it won't catch anyone else's interest either. The lack of interest on the part of the author will show through every time.

Good one!

[Steven Lake]

Agreed. I've seen that time and time again.

[BrianKittrell]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

13. Until you have a measure of success such that the average man on the street knows who you are, you shouldn't be making lists telling writers what to do, or not do.

<3

Well, I don't know about the average man on the street necessarily, but, you know..

[Elfwreck]

Originally Posted by dadioflex

13. Until you have a measure of success such that the average man on the street knows who you are, you shouldn't be making lists telling writers what to do, or not do.

I don't think popularity is important here--but income and personal satisfaction are.

Until you are writing instead of, not in addition to, a day job, you're not qualified to state what skills/attitudes/etc professional writers really need. Unless you are satisfied with your authorial career--even if it's not at the "walk away from day job" income level--you're not qualified to advise other authors how to be happy with their efforts.

Obviously, if you're writing lists of Authors Should Do This, either you are following them, or you are a hypocrite. (Or incapable of following them for some reason. But "you should do this even though I won't or can't" is a different kind of list.) If you are following them and not content with your current income or readership, why should anyone else believe that they work?

You can write "do this to be as successful as I am!" lists... but that only works if "as successful as I am" is a goal for aspiring writers. "Do this to get publishers to pay attention to you" is only good advice if you've used it and it works. "Do this to write novels that people enjoy and remember," ditto.

Part of what I like so much about Konrath's and Rusch's and Smith's advice is that they can say, "this WORKS for me. I can't guarantee it'll work this well for you--but I can promise these are effective methods for many authors."

[Rizla]

#15. Turn off the internet and stop reading this forum.

[crich70]

#16. Avoid playing computer solitaire until after your writing is done for the day, otherwise you'll never get started.

[Steven Lake]

I sometimes play solitaire as a way to think through my ideas. I'm ADD, so letting part of my brain chew on the card game while the other works on the writing issues makes working through tough scene or story issues easier.

[Nancy Fulda]

Myke Cole's most recent blog post seems relevant to this topic: The 18 Rules I Learned in My 1st Year as a Full-time Writer.

Nail. Head.

[kennyc]

Originally Posted by Nancy Fulda

Myke Cole's most recent blog post seems relevant to this topic: The 18 Rules I Learned in My 1st Year as a Full-time Writer.

Nail. Head.

Love it! So True!

Needs to be posted in the "Secrets of Indie Success" thread as well.

[Steven Lyle Jordan]

Originally Posted by kennyc

Love it! So True!

Needs to be posted in the "Secrets of Indie Success" thread as well.

Done. (And retweeted and posted to my Facebook page.)