Tuesday, November 16, 2021

Writing Style & Design


Terry Pratchett, the English novelist, who may be best known for his Discworld series (41 books!), reportedly, in terms of writing drafts, advised:
First draft: let it run. Turn all the knobs up to 11.

Second draft: hell. Cut it down and cut it into shape.

Third draft: comb its nose and blow its hair.

In other words, the first draft is a brain dump, the second draft is a deletion of the frivolous, and the third draft is an addition of style slash design.  

Thursday, November 4, 2021

Three Vital Matters for Writers: Journaling, Reading & Writing

Madeleine L'Engle, the author of A Wrinkle in Time, listed three vital matters for writers: journaling, reading and writing

First, if you want to write, you need to keep an honest, unpublishable journal that nobody reads, nobody but you. Where you just put down what you think about life, what you think about things, what you think is fair and what you think is unfair. 

And second, you need to read. You can't be a writer if you're not a reader. It's the great writers who teach us how to write. 

The third thing is to write. Just write a little bit every day. Even if it's for only half an hour — write, write, write