OK, for what it’s worth, here’s the main advice I give my students about fiction writing (aka Tom’s Top Ten). Some of this applies to poetry and essay writing, too, I guess, but I focus mostly on fiction.
The stuff below is more about sensibility and process than practical concerns like when to write (Answer: As often as possible) or whether to use a pen or keyboard (Answer: Both).
1) Give yourself permission to write poorly. If you don’t, you’ll blame your lack of productivity on writer’s block, which is a false alibi invented by people who believe in the Myth of Inspiration. Inspiration is fickle. Pushing yourself to write, even when–especially when–you’re not in the mood, is reliable. If you get stuck, give yourself the assignment to write the worst paragraph in the world. It’ll be fun to write and will end up being better than you intended–and, most important, it’ll get you unstuck.
2) Every writing opportunity is unique, so take advantage of it as frequently as you can–daily, if possible. You’re changing all the time, so whatever you don’t write today will never get written.
3) You have two main responsibilities as a writer: To empathize with your characters, and to tell the unsentimental truth. Period. How do you do this? By engaging the reader’s senses, emotions and intellect in direct, unadorned language.
4) Along those lines: Don’t worry about impressing anyone with fancy prose or big ideas or lush descriptions. Just write the best, leanest sentences that cut to the heart of the story that show the characters in action. The best time to slow down and linger is when your characters are experiencing moments of emotional vulnerability.
5) Also along those lines: Check your ego at the door. Your story’s about the people on the page, not you. You should love these people unconditionally, compassionately, without judgment, without prejudice. What you want or intend for them doesn’t matter. Don’t bully them into acting against their nature. Just follow them around and report their actions and words and thoughts as accurately as you can.
6)During writing time, block out competing narratives. No TV, Internet, radio, phone (cell or landline), music with lyrics, video games, pool tables, espresso machines, friends or family within earshot or view. Invest in soft, high-grade earplugs.
7) Don’t be Joseph Grand. Who is Joseph Grand? He’s the character in Camus’s novel THE PLAGUE who’s trying to write a novel. The problem is Joseph’s such a perfectionist that he can’t get past the first sentence–he just keeps revising and revising that first sentence. So: Complete a first draft as quickly as possible. Once you have the raw materials, you can revise them into something beautiful & true later.
8) There’s no such thing as an interesting dream sequence. Ever. Seriously.
9) Don’t be coy. Withholding vital information from the reader doesn’t create suspense; it creates frustration. Suspense is created when vulnerable characters are in clear, unambiguous emotional danger.
The first paragraph of any story should inform the reader of the following
-Where we are
-When we are
-Whose story it is
-What the main character yearns for desperately
-Why the main character yearns
-How the main character plans to pursue that which she yearns for desperately
In other words: Give the reader everything she needs to know as soon as she needs to know it.
10) Give yourself manageable writing goals. If you shoot too high–like vowing to write a novel in a month–you’ll inevitably fall short and get discouraged and use that discouragement as an excuse to stop writing. Shoot for two pages a day, a reasonable goal for a busy person who’s given herself permission to write poorly.
I could go on (and on and on), but those’re the top ten. Keep in mind that any advice I dole out is really me talking to myself.
Tom DeMarchi teaches in the Department of Language & Literature at Florida Gulf Coast University in Fort Myers. His work has appeared in The Miami Herald, The Pinch, Southeast Review, and Quick Fiction. When not teaching or sleeping, he’s directing the Sanibel Island Writers Conference (www.fgcu.edu/siwc).
