For people just starting to write fiction, and all the rest of us as well.
Writing a novel is like driving a car at night. You can see only as far as your headlights, but you can make the whole trip that way.
E.L. Doctorow
The difference between the right word and the almost right word is the difference between lightning and a lightning bug.
Mark Twain
PRIMARY DIRECTIVES – According to me.
1. Writers write.
Being a writer means having homework for the rest of your life.
Lawrence Kasdan
2. Readers read closely.
The greatest part of a writer’s time is spent in reading in order to write. A man will turn over half a library to make a book.
Samuel Johnson
3. The story is the thing.
People’s interest is in the product, not in its authorship.
Jonathan Ive
4. Less is usually more. USUALLY.
So the writer who breeds more words than he needs, is making a chore for the reader who reads. Dr Seuss
IN PROVIDING FEEDBACK
1. Constructive criticism focuses on the written work, and not the writer (see no. 3, above).
2. Begin with the positive (but see no. 3, below).
3. Be honest. Disingenuous praise is counter productive.
You get a good review, and it’s like crack. You need another hit. And another. And another. I know authors are like Tinkerbell and generally need applause to survive, but it’s a slippery slope.
Alexandra Bracken
4. Be specific. Consider CHARACTERIZATION, DIALOGUE, SETTING, POINT OF VIEW, CONFLICT, PACING, MECHANICS, THEME
5. Keep Kant and the Categorical Imperative in mind:
Act only according to that maxim whereby you can, at the same time, will that it should become a universal law.
IN ACCEPTING FEEDBACK
1. Keep an open mind. Let your mind breathe.
2. Refrain from arguing. If you have to explain what you were trying to get across, you did not succeed.
Let me never fall into the vulgar mistake of dreaming that I am persecuted whenever I am contradicted.
Ralph Waldo Emerson
3. If one person voices a concern, consider it. If two persons voice the same concern, look at it closely. If three are unanimous in voicing a concern, rewrite.
A writer is someone for whom writing is more difficult than it is for other people.
Thomas Mann
4. Remember: It’s all a draft until you die.
This image is adapted from Janet Burroway’s excellent Introduction to Fiction Writing. It encapsulates the essentials of well structured storytelling.