need to know?

[adelaidesean]

Take a look at Robert J Sawyer's "Eight Things New Writers Need To Know".

Not a response to my ever-evolving 10.5 Commandments post, but a list of things I really wish I'd been told 17 years ago, when I first set out on this crazy adventure.

Every word is gold. It amazes me, for instance, how often people forget numbers 6 and 8. (No one here is guilty of it, I'm sure!)

Thanks to the gang at the Writers of the Future Contest for e-printing this great piece from the contest anthology, Volume XXII.

Comments

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

I think a lot of new writers forget No.1 and are devestated if just one person dislikes their writing. Not everyone is going to be a fan.

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Yes, and no matter who you are or what you write, *someone* will absolutely love your work. Someone other than your Mum, I mean. :-)

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Of course, you have to find them. But, rejection is part of the process. Get used to it. Everyone has to find their niche. Also a lot of new writers (in every field I can think of, not just SF), forget that you have to have something to say. In the end, EM Forster said it best: "only connect". That is the whole point of any endevour, big or small, literature or painting or whatever.

Also, I think no. 6 should include reading OUTSIDE the SF area. Good writing is everywhere. Reading great stuff outside your field of interest can show you new ways to look at things, how to explore different ideas.

And any aspiring SF writer should be made to sit down and read all the short stories of Cordwainer Smith.

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Also, I think no. 6 should include reading OUTSIDE the SF area.

I absolutely, totally agree.

And any aspiring SF writer should be made to sit down and read all the short stories of Cordwainer Smith.

I did read one, back when I was aspiring and all, but didn't take it any further. Whoops.

The Forster quote is a great one. Thanks for introducing me to it. It underlies every guide to communication, whether it's about the written word or sculpture, art or just chatting. When we forget it, we're lost.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Glad you like the quote. It's a favourite, and is indeed aboutthe essence of all art and all life. Need any more good quotes? I have lots. I have a database of them....(how very librarian of me).

Another favourite quote about writing is this one from Rainer Maria Rilke

If your daily life seems poor, do not blame it; blame yourself, tell yourself that you are not poet enough to call forth its riches.

I remind myself of this whenever I think my life is boring.

Try and read more Cordwainer Smith. It is worth it. Thre stories you should try to read are "The Colonel came back from the Nothing at All", "the Lady that sailed the Soul", and Ralpha Alpha Boulevard". I 'd lend you my copy of the short stories, but you're in Adelaide and it's very heavy. It's the NESFA edition. Brillant production.

[damienw]

You can drop by and raid the S section of the "library" sometime...

[ladnews.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I might just do that.

[murasaki-1966.livejournal.com]

Failing that, I could photocopy a few of the stories for you and send them via snail mail. Or http://www.cordwainer-smith.com/