My Writing Spot for iPad Henry Miller’s 11 Commandments of Writing & Daily Creative Routine After David Ogilvy’s wildly popular 10 tips on writing and a selection of advice from modernity’s greatest writers, here comes some from the prolific writer and painter Henry Miller (December 26, 1891–June 7, 1980) COMMANDMENTSWork on one thing at a time until finished.Start no more new books, add no more new material to ‘Black Spring.’Don’t be nervous. Work calmly, joyously, recklessly on whatever is in hand.Work according to Program and not according to mood. Stop at the appointed time! Under a part titled Daily Program, his routine also featured the following wonderful blueprint for productivity, inspiration, and mental health: MORNINGS: If groggy, type notes and allocate, as stimulus.If in fine fettle, write.AFTERNOONS:Work of section in hand, following plan of section scrupulously. Complement Henry Miller on Writing with the beloved author on the meaning of life and the secret to remaining young at heart, then revisit great writers’ collected wisdom on the craft. HT Lists of Note
How Do You Know You’re Growing as a Writer? | noveldoctor I’m not sure how to open this post. I thought about playing the simile card and saying something about how becoming a better writer is a lot like becoming a better other thing – a better architect, a better juggler, a better OPI color namer, a better human. That would have been entirely true. And entirely boring. I also considered manufacturing a conversation between a beginning writer and a seasoned writer that could foreshadow the post’s inevitable wisdom. Seasoned Writer: I’m told you want to know how I got to be me. Beginning Writer: Yes. Seasoned Writer: Was that sarcasm? Beginning Writer: Sarcasm? Seasoned Writer: Never mind. Beginning Writer: Yes, master. Seasoned Writer: First of all, stop attributing wisdom to someone just because he’s older. Beginning Writer: That’s it? Seasoned Writer: Yup. Beginning Writer: It’s that simple? Seasoned Writer: Who said anything about it being simple? Beginning Writer: One more thing? Seasoned Writer: Drink a lot.
רעיונות ירוקים - שיווק מוצרים אקולוגיים iA Writer Neil Gaiman’s 8 Rules of Writing By Maria Popova In the winter of 2010, inspired by Elmore Leonard’s 10 rules of writing published in The New York Times nearly a decade earlier, The Guardian reached out to some of today’s most celebrated authors and asked them to each offer his or her commandments. After Zadie Smith’s 10 rules of writing, here come 8 from the one and only Neil Gaiman: WritePut one word after another. For more timeless wisdom on writing, see Kurt Vonnegut’s 8 rules for a great story, David Ogilvy’s 10 no-bullshit tips, Henry Miller’s 11 commandments, Jack Kerouac’s 30 beliefs and techniques, John Steinbeck’s 6 pointers, and Susan Sontag’s synthesized learnings. Image by Kimberly Butler
Ten rules for writing fiction Elmore Leonard: Using adverbs is a mortal sin 1 Never open a book with weather. If it's only to create atmosphere, and not a character's reaction to the weather, you don't want to go on too long. 2 Avoid prologues: they can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. 3 Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue. 4 Never use an adverb to modify the verb "said" ... he admonished gravely. 5 Keep your exclamation points under control. 6 Never use the words "suddenly" or "all hell broke loose". 7 Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. 8 Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, which Steinbeck covered. 9 Don't go into great detail describing places and things, unless you're Margaret Atwood and can paint scenes with language. 10 Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. My most important rule is one that sums up the 10: if it sounds like writing, I rewrite it. Diana Athill Margaret Atwood 3 Take something to write on.
this isn't happiness™ Peteski The man who invented the Hollywood schlock machine The Proposal is formulaic. The Taking of Pelham 1 2 3 is formulaic. Imagine That is formulaic. But who came up with the formula? If you want the human embodiment of Hollywood predictability, you can't do better than Wycliffe A. It was a notion borne of failure. DeMille's prodding was perfectly timed; Hill wandered into a bookshop and found the new translation of French critic Georges Polti's Thirty-Six Dramatic Situations. What if together they made … a formula? Hill's Ten Million Photoplay Plots: The Master Key to All Dramatic Plots, a byzantine matrix of characters and conflicts designed to create endless plot combinations, was so novel when it debuted in 1919 that the slim guide sold for an eye-popping $5. There's plenty of quaint advice: Throw a punch in the first 200 feet of film; introduce a love interest within 500 feet. Hill wasn't about to lie down and take … well, whatever the hell this was. And so the would-be formula advice genre that Wycliffe A.
Elmore Leonard’s 10 Rules of Writing Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a character’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long. The reader is apt to leaf ahead looking for people. Avoid prologues. They can be annoying, especially a prologue following an introduction that comes after a foreword. There is a prologue in John Steinbeck’s Sweet Thursday, but it’s O.K. because a character in the book makes the point of what my rules are all about. 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. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” … …he admonished gravely. Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.” This rule doesn’t require an explanation. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters. Which Steinbeck covered.
25 Insights on Becoming a Better Writer When George Plimpton asked Ernest Hemingway what the best training for an aspiring writer would be in a 1954 interview, Hem replied, “Let’s say that he should go out and hang himself because he finds that writing well is impossibly difficult. Then he should be cut down without mercy and forced by his own self to write as well as he can for the rest of his life. At least he will have the story of the hanging to commence with.” Today, writing well is more important than ever. Far from being the province of a select few as it was in Hemingway’s day, writing is a daily occupation for all of us — in email, on blogs, and through social media. It is also a primary means for documenting, communicating, and refining our ideas. So what can we do to improve our writing short of hanging ourselves? 1. Don’t just plan to write—write. 2. [The] Resistance knows that the longer we noodle around “getting ready,” the more time and opportunity we’ll have to sabotage ourselves. 3. 4. 5. 6. 7. 8. 9. 10. 11.
10 Reasons Why EarthShips Are F!#%ing Awesome Earthships are 100% sustainable homes that are both cheap to build and awesome to live in. They offer amenities like no other sustainable building style you have come across. For the reasons that follow, I believe Earthships can actually change the world. See for yourself! 1) Sustainable does not mean primitive When people hear about sustainable, off-the-grid living, they usually picture primitive homes divorced from the comforts of the 21st century. 2) Free Food Each Earthship is outfitted with one or two greenhouses that grow crops year-round, no matter the climate. 3) Brilliant Water Recycling Even the most arid of climates can provide enough water for daily use through only a rain-harvesting system. 4) Warmth & Shelter The most brilliant piece of engineering in the Earthship is their ability to sustain comfortable temperatures year round. The large greenhouse windows at the front of the house always face south to allow the sun to heat up the thermal mass throughout the daytime. 5) Energy