I'm strapped for time but here's something valuable that I can pass on with a minimum of effort. For everybody out there who writes, here's sci-fi writer Robert Heinlein's five rules for writing success. Ignore them at your peril!
Rule 1) You must write.
Rule 2) You must finish what you start.
Rule 3) You must refrain from rewriting, except to editorial order.
Rule4) You must put your story on the market.
Rule 5) You must keep it on the matket until it has sold.
Science fiction author Robert J. Sawyer added his own sixth rule, which deserves to be added to the original five:
Rule 6) Start working on something else.
Nifty, huh!?
27 comments:
I started reading Starship Troopers last week and it's good stuff. Pragmatist science fiction rules! And so does creative philosophy from pragmatist science fiction writers.
great. along with the preston sturges rules you put up a while ago.
it's hard to sell to the market. most of it is sci-fi, recently i've been trying to fit it to that.
despair!
Except for the one about not revising, those rules are good for academic writing as well as commercial.
That's some damn fine advice that applies to all creative activities really.
Another bit of advice which I like I read in Salvador Dali's 10 Secrets of Magic Craftsmanship, he said, 'Don't fear perfection because you will never achieve it.'
I thought about it for a while, and I realized that perfection really only exists in our minds, strive for it because if you don't your work will stagnate, but don't get too disappointed when it isn't achieved.
Because even your less than perfect work can still entertain and inspire others, so get it out there for them to see it. Plus it's fun to make art, and it isn't fun to worry that it isn't good enough for anyone else's eyes.
Hope that was helpful.
My number one rule for writing comes from the movie "Throw Mamma from the Train" -'a writer writes--always'. The same rule applies to art.
what do oyu think of philip k dick?
A lot of the animators I know (myself included) have a hard time following a lot of these steps. Maybe it's because I live in the cynical midwest or something, but I have friends who have great ideas who just quit because they think it's stupid, or has been done before, or seems too internetty or things like that. I know I've fallen victim to it.
elmore leonard has some really great rules for writing. One of his rules was never begin a sentence with the phrase "suddenly" which is hilarious since half of the far side comics start that way, although I think he was being deliberately hacky.
Science fiction seems to be in something of a rut lately, if you look at lists of nebula/hugo award winners it seems to be mostly mystical/fantasy stuff with titles like "the wizard of eldobretch" etc.
I mean im more into soft sf than hard sf but there doesnt seem to be much of either today, not to mention the horrible "sf" on tv like stargate.
I think theres a lot for cartoonists to parody in todays science fiction television, whenever I read heinlein or bester I dont picture a cast of generic 20 something models that dress like extras in a boy band video from the year 2078
there needs to be some sort of sf moratorium put on gritty film noir dystopian futures run by corporations
Solid advice. You could apply those rules to other disciplines as well.
I've never read Robert Heinlein before - which books of his do you recommend?
Here BTW are Kurt Vonnegut's rules for writing fiction:
1. Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
2. Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
3. Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
4. Every sentence must do one of two things -- reveal character or advance the action.
5. Start as close to the end as possible.
6. Be a sadist. Now matter how sweet and innocent your leading characters, make awful things happen to them -- in order that the reader may see what they are made of.
7. Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia.
8. Give your readers as much information as possible as soon as possible. To heck with suspense. Readers should have such complete understanding of what is going on, where and why, that they could finish the story themselves, should cockroaches eat the last few pages.
Lester: Wow! Thanks a million for the Vonnegut tips! Very useful stuff! I'm going to put them on the shelf over my desk!
Anon: Elmore Leonard had tips to offer? Thanks, I'll look them up!
Chip: I'm not really a Heinlein fan, though I certainly have nothing against him. He's not weird enough for my taste.
What about Philip K. Dick? His rule seems to have been writewritewritewriteandneverstop.
I'm pretty good at rules 1 and 6 here, but lousy at 2 through 5.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ceSxEjwXHcM
EXCELLENT!
Copy, paste, print!
hah.
Good show, my man.
Okapi: Hubba, hubba!!!!!!!!!!! Thanks for that!
Joel: Philip K. Dick? I only read one of his books and fragments of a couple of others. The one I read was "Eye in the Sky" and it was great! One of these days I'll give him another try.
Heinlein isn't always great (that no-revision rule is a tipoff here) but he did write three classics: Starship Troopers (the which began a subgenre that is still thriving), Stranger in a Strange Land (the hippie Bible), and The Moon is a Harsh Mistress (beloved of all anarchists). That's a lot for any writer.
sf isnt where you go for examples of great prose but for ideas theres no match
I read "The Star Beast" and "Starship Troopers" as a kid and loved them. "Stranger in a Strange Land" was assigned in high school-good story. Also many of his short stories, all of which I am pretty sure were great.
I totally disagree with him about revising (I think it's a good idea to rewrite at least one time, after setting aside to cool for a while) but then, he was Heinlein, so there you go. ; )
Jenny, Lester: No matter what the locale or the setting, Heinlein's novels are always about Earthly social issues. I frequently agree with what he's saying but I don't read sci-fi to have my opinions confirmed. I want to have my mind blown by really imaginative ideas.
Hmmm.
I don't demand anything of any genre except that it keep my interest, be well-written(an increasingly unreachable bar, apparently)and be entertaining.
I do--or at least I can--get bored with agenda stories--doesn't matter if they're so-called fantasy, "sci-fi" or historical drama, whatever--so I'm with you there.
On the other hand, though, I didn't see any agendas at all in Heinlein's juvenile novels(of which Star Beast and Troopers are two titles); they're just fun, exciting adventure stories...at least that's how I remember them.
Then There've been some "mind-blowing" novels that aren't rooted in any recognizable reality that I'm conversant with-and then I get bored. If I can't believe in the story or characters, I don't care about them, no matter the coolness of the concept.
amazing!!!
my rules are:
1. make stuff
2. dont show it to anyone because i'm a pussy
3. live with my parents becasue they feed me
These rules are much better than that hack, Chuck Lorre's.
>2. dont show it to anyone because i'm a pussy
That's pretty sexual, Marlo.
Jorge: That's the douche nozzle that made Two and a Half Men ?! ARGH!!!!!!!!!!! I really whish both Jackie Gleason and Carrol O'Connor would rise from their graves and beat the hell out of him.
Here here Har Har!!
Jorge: Thanks a million for the Chuck Lorre! John should see that site!
Post a Comment