Perhaps you’re a professional writer. Or, maybe you have a dream and are working toward it. Perhaps you’ve always wanted to try writing but keep talking yourself out of it because you “don’t have what it takes” or “don’t know how to begin.” Today’s writing secrets are for you!
Some of the world’s greatest authors have shared their best writing advice. The writing process is personal. Each writer can (and should) develop a unique style. In the meantime, pondering writing secrets from the world’s greatest authors provides inspiration and encouragement.
Writing secrets from William Faulkner are worth remembering
William Faulkner’s top-selling novels include, “As I Lay Dying,” “Sound and Fury,” and, of course, his last novel, “The Reivers,” for which he won a Pulitzer Prize for fiction. What are his writing secrets?
According to Faulkner, the best thing you can do is read! Faulkner encouraged writers to read anything they could get their hands on. He said writers should read quality works as well as “bad” writing. His follow-up secret to improve your skills is to write. If it’s good, keep it. If not, toss it.
Ernest Hemingway says to edit more than you write
Hemingway’s advice is to write down ideas as they enter your mind. Just get it out of the brain and onto the paper. Hemingway said that first drafts are nothing more than “brain spews,” which writers must enable. The author of “Old Man and the Sea,” “For Whom the Bell Tolls,” and “A Farewell to Arms,” said that a writer’s central focus should really be on editing the brain spews.
Read – write – and, what else?
Some of the greatest authors in the world have shared that their best writing secrets are simply to read and to write all the time. The following list includes five additional tips from some of the best-selling authors of all-time:
- “Song of Solomon” author, Toni Morrison, says that writers shouldn’t try to write what they think others want to read but what they themselves would love to read because, chances are, if they want to read it, others will too.
- J.K. Rowling, considered one of the highest paid authors of all-time, had a lot to say to new writers in this interview, including that “courage” is the key factor to being anything in life, especially a writer. Rowling says that overcoming a fear of failure is necessary.
- James Patterson, currently listed as the world’s best-selling author, says that one of his writing secrets is “learning to embrace the writer’s block.” It happens to everyone.
- Before his death in 2009, “Empire of the Sun” author, J.G. Ballard said his best writing secret was to write 1,000 words per day, no matter what.
- Richard Paul Evans once said that the best day of his life was the one when he realized he had no idea how to be a best-selling author. He only knew how to write to someone he loves. Evans says that writers should avoid trying to be great writers and just aim for writing something that moves people.
How can you go wrong with writing secrets from some of the greatest authors of all time? What are practical steps to make a writing dream a reality? Which one of these tips will you put into action this week? Which one resonates the most with you, as a writer?
