Interesting that some of the 10 Rules for Writing offered by some of the authors in The Guardian tell you rather about those writers themselves.
Anne Enright's first rule, for instance: The first twelve years are the worst. Hm, obvious she's never been a mid-list author out on her ear.
Hilary Mantel's very first rule: Get an accountant. For god's sake, has she never been at the writing stage where you can't f***ing afford an accountant?
Interesting how conflicting the advice is, Atwood and others saying it's no use plodding on if something's going stale, someone (can't remember who) saying stick at it.
All relative, innit? And perhaps it's not surprising that it's the writers I like best with whom I mostly agree: Atwood, Enright (in spite of her opener), AL Kennedy, Joyce Carol Oates among others.
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5 comments:
Ha! I've never noticed that before but you are totally right. Author's rules for writing are always based on what worked for them or what they wish they would have done. Great post!
I liked Pullman's comment!
Me too - it was the best!
I blogged about this too, as did several others. I thought it was a surprisingly good article, as these things go. But for the Guardian to dedicate 4 full pages to this? Their circulation must be made up entirely of wannabe writers, or writer/bloggers like us. It's bad enough that we kill ourselves in this business. I'd hate to think that we're no different than anyone else. Is there no mystery left for our readers? :-)
Wonder why they didn't ask Stephen King for his Top 10 list?!
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