Hilari Bell: Rules for Writing

As I write this it's about 9:30 at night. I'm sitting at my kitchen table using the laptop, because my niece is doing homework on my computer. I've spent all of today, and most of the previous month, writing my brain into mush reworking the second book of the Goblin Wood trilogy. I'm tired, slightly, and really need a few days off... And I'm still incredibly grateful that I can make a living as a writer.

It's got to be the best job in the world--particularly when you're not writing your brain to mush--but it's weird in a lot of ways. There are no rules. A few things, sure, but even the most repeated truisms, like "show don't tell" are more like guidelines. ;) Still, every now and then some writer comes up with "unbreakable" rules for writing--and every time they do, I know of someone who successfully breaks them. So it's pretty stupid of me to put forward rules of my own, but I think I've got three that really are almost unbreakable--at least for writers who want to be published--so I may as well pass them on. This is:


Bell's Modification of Heinlein's Three Rules:
(Yes, I stole the first two.)

1: You must write.

2: You must finish what you write.

3: You must submit what you've finished to editors who are likely to buy it until one of them does.

It sounds obvious, but you'd be amazed how many writers miss one of those steps. And Heinlein's third rule was not to rewrite except for an editor, but I think he was wrong about that.

So are there any of my rules you think are wrong? And what are some writing rules that work for you, even if they might not work for everyone?

Hilari

Hilari Bell
Author of The Last Knight, The Prophecy, The Wizard Test, and The Goblin Wood
www.sfwa.org/members/bell