Adding to Rule #3, Robert Heinlein would probably agree with Wayne Gretsky with his famous quote "You miss the shots you don't take." The same applies to writing. You can't fix a story you haven't written yet. Even if you fix it in your head, you would still be at square one.
I just found this video. I appreciate the thought and effort. As you say, they are simple. As simple as "There's no such thing as a free lunch." God Bless Us All
Rule #6, often stated by Robert A. Heinlein and many other successful authors is: write to a market. In other words, write with the audience you hope will read your work in mind. Another rule, possibly just as important for many writers is: Research! Research! Research! Even if writing "speculative" fiction, the story must be believable as a whole. The same rule holds for writing Historical Fiction. Bernard Cornwell once remarked that he does research almost continually. The last rule, also from a very successful writer for periodicals, is "write about what you know." This is a joining of the previous two rules. But if it worked for a man who became a millionaire by writing, and who sometimes had as many as five pieces under various pseudonyms appear in a single issue of periodicals like Colliers, or The Saturday Evening Post, I'd say it's a rule to keep in mind.
Writing to a market is sound advice, but its also a contentious point! I think this absolutely comes down to what your goals are as an author, and certainly what Heinlein is outlining in his rules is how to become a successful (aka financially stable) full-time writer and producing a story that has a clear target audience is definitely the way to go. And thanks for mentioning research! It's one of my favourite parts of writing, but I must confess it's a topic that I haven't recently visited on this channel. Double thanks for watching and leaving a comment, this video is so old that I often think about reshooting it!
Hey Bohdan, thanks for the comment! The background music is annoying, thankfully I don't use it in my videos anymore. :-) [And the audio in my recent videos is much better too].
Adding to Rule #3, Robert Heinlein would probably agree with Wayne Gretsky with his famous quote "You miss the shots you don't take." The same applies to writing. You can't fix a story you haven't written yet. Even if you fix it in your head, you would still be at square one.
That reminds me a lot of Anne Lamontt's advice to write sh*tty first drafts because you can't edit a blank page.
I just found this video. I appreciate the thought and effort. As you say, they are simple. As simple as "There's no such thing as a free lunch."
God Bless Us All
Thank you for such kind words on what is a VERY old video made on sub-par equipment!
Rule #6, often stated by Robert A. Heinlein and many other successful authors is: write to a market. In other words, write with the audience you hope will read your work in mind. Another rule, possibly just as important for many writers is: Research! Research! Research! Even if writing "speculative" fiction, the story must be believable as a whole. The same rule holds for writing Historical Fiction. Bernard Cornwell once remarked that he does research almost continually.
The last rule, also from a very successful writer for periodicals, is "write about what you know." This is a joining of the previous two rules. But if it worked for a man who became a millionaire by writing, and who sometimes had as many as five pieces under various pseudonyms appear in a single issue of periodicals like Colliers, or The Saturday Evening Post, I'd say it's a rule to keep in mind.
Writing to a market is sound advice, but its also a contentious point! I think this absolutely comes down to what your goals are as an author, and certainly what Heinlein is outlining in his rules is how to become a successful (aka financially stable) full-time writer and producing a story that has a clear target audience is definitely the way to go. And thanks for mentioning research! It's one of my favourite parts of writing, but I must confess it's a topic that I haven't recently visited on this channel. Double thanks for watching and leaving a comment, this video is so old that I often think about reshooting it!
Reviewing writer rules is a good topic.
An appealing lady with some good advice. But damn annoying background music. This isn't a movie
Hey Bohdan, thanks for the comment! The background music is annoying, thankfully I don't use it in my videos anymore. :-) [And the audio in my recent videos is much better too].
Lose the music.
Also the Valley-Girl rising inflection at the end of your sentences.
🧐
Haha, thanks for the reply. Also, sorry for how terrible I am in this video -- my TH-cam presentation has improved a lot in two years!
Tara East Nice!
You are great!