A couple of days ago, best-selling novelist Colson Whitehead contributed an op-ed piece to the New York Times entitled “How to Write.” Here are his 11 rules for writing (find the entire article here).
- Show and Tell (rather than show, don’t tell)
- Let your subject find you
- Write what you know
- Never use three words when one will do
- Keep a dream diary
- What isn’t said is as important as what is said
- Writer’s block is a tool — use it
- Is secret
- Have adventures
- Revise, revise, revise
- There are no rules
Photo by Mark Coggins