GLJ Writing Essentials
1. There are no rules in art. Specific efforts produce specific results. A declared rule is simply a way to avoid an outcome in a certain situation. On some occasions you may need the outcome that a broken rule produces. Determine your goals and proceed accordingly.
2. Know the ostensible rules. Seize every opportunity to study them. Learn as much as you can about things that imagine themselves to be rules.
3. Writers read.
4. Writers write. When I stand in front of writing workshops and classes a big part of me always wants to say, "What are you doing here? Just go home and write."
5. Writers read. It may appear to be self-evident, but it bears repeating. Writers read because they love language and ideas, resulting in the infusion of an intuitive sense of how words work.
6. Writers write. I heard a successful prize-winning novelist tell a class, "The only difference between you and me is that tonight I'll go home and write." I've known people who expend great effort in carefully preparing their writing space (getting the perfect desk, the best computer or pen, the correct paper, the optimal coffee, or the most ergonomic chair) but never write a word; people who talk a great line about writing, but never write a word; and people who think they want to write but in fact want to be able to say they have written, and they never write a word. It's painful to witness their frustration.
7. The act of creating art does not feel the same as the experience of consuming art. Confusing those feelings can derail you.
8. Kerouac lied. Effective writing means rewriting. Kill your babies. The best line you ever wrote has to go if it doesn't serve the task at hand. The completed project should feel spontaneous and inevitable, hiding all signs of rewriting. "…strive to employ the art that conceals arts." Jean Philippe Rameau
9. Always carry a notebook. Always carry a notebook. And remember to use it. Ideas are fickle lovers. If you aren't prepared to embrace them at the door the will happily flee to the arms of another.
10. Writing happens in the mind, not on the page or screen. Clarify your thoughts and then record them. Conversely, the act of recording will help you further clarify your thoughts.
11. A passion, pure joy, an obsession (verging on self-abuse) for simply playing with words is a great help. You know who you are…
12. This is a hard truth for some would-be writers to comprehend and accept, but its negation is a sure way to impose an amateurish sheen on a piece of writing. Be frugal to the extreme in your use of adjectives and adverbs. You will still have too many. They are your enemy. They are like thin ornamental girders in an otherwise sturdy bridge. They pretend to add color to a line when all they really do is weaken it.
13. Writers drink. Yup, it's true. Writers need a healthful eight glasses of water each day, just like everyone else.
WRITING ESSENTIALS POSTLUDE: Any artist will do well to become familiar with the work of creativity guru Dr. Edward deBono. He has convincingly shown that, contrary to popular belief, the human mind functions differently than a computer. He describes the mind as a self-organizing pattern system. Lateral thinking. Water logic as opposed to rock logic. If you are intrigued check out deBono's writings and edwarddebono.com.