Writers on their craft

Further to my previous blog on editing, here’s some quotes famous writers on other things to consider in your writing/editing:

Elemore Leonard

Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. The line of dialogue belongs to the character; the verb is the writer sticking his nose in. But "said" is far less intrusive than "grumbled", "gasped", "cautioned", "lied".

Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" ... he admonished gravely. To use an adverb this way (or almost any way) is a mortal sin. The writer is now exposing himself in earnest, using a word that distracts and can interrupt the rhythm of the exchange. I have a character in one of my books tell how she used to write historical romances "full of rape and adverbs".

Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.

Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose". This rule doesn't require an explanation. I have noticed that writers who use "suddenly" tend to exercise less control in the application of exclamation points.
Diana Athill

Cut - only by having no inessential words can every essential word be made to count.

You don't always have to go so far as to murder your darlings – those turns of phrase or images of which you felt extra proud when they appeared on the page – but go back and look at them with a very beady eye. Almost always it turns out that they'd be better dead (not every little twinge of satisfaction is suspect – it's the ones which amount to a sort of smug glee you must watch out for.)
Roddy Doyle
Do keep a thesaurus, but in the shed at the back of the garden or behind the fridge, somewhere that demands travel or effort. Chances are the words that come into your head will do fine, eg "horse", "ran", "said".
Helen Dunmore

Reread, rewrite, reread, rewrite. If it still doesn't work, throw it away. It's a nice feeling, and you don't want to be cluttered with the corpses of poems and stories which have everything in them except the life they need.

Geoff Dyer

Beware of clichés. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are ­clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

Anne Enright

Only bad writers think that their work is really good.

Try to be accurate about stuff.
 Jonathan Franzen

Never use the word "then" as a ­conjunction – we have "and" for this purpose. Substituting "then" is the lazy or tone-deaf writer's non-solution to the problem of too many "ands" on the page.

Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.

Esther Freud

Cut out the metaphors and similes. In my first book I promised myself I wouldn't use any and I slipped up ­ during a sunset in chapter 11. I still blush when I come across it.

Editing is everything. Cut until you can cut no more. What is left often springs into life.

Trust your reader. Not everything needs to be explained. If you really know something, and breathe life into it, they'll know it too.

Never forget, even your own rules are there to be broken.
Neil Gaiman
 
The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like (that may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing). So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it ­honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.
PD James

Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more ­effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it.

John Dean