I’m afraid of coaching, of writer’s classes, of writer’s magazines, of books on how to write. They give me ‘centipede trouble’ — you know the yarn about the centipede who was asked how he managed all his feet? He tried to answer, stopped to think about it, and was never able to walk another step.
Robert A. Heinlein
I just stumbled upon the Open Culture blog, which has some very interesting postings about writing. If you search for the category “writing”, you find postings like:
- Seven Tips From F. Scott Fitzgerald on How to Write Fiction
- Seven Tips From Ernest Hemingway on How to Write Fiction
- 19 Quotes on Writing by Gore Vidal. Some Witty, Some Acerbic, Many Spot On
- Kurt Vonnegut’s Eight Tips on How to Write a Good Short Story
- Ray Bradbury Gives 12 Pieces of Writing Advice to Young Authors (2001)
- and much, much more …
Not that you should follow all advice you get, but it’s a nice stimulation to find out what works for you — and that is really all that counts.
Highly recommended.