7 lists about #writing

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@calunderlines

orwell's six rules for writing

6 items
  • 01Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print.
  • 02Never use a long word where a short one will do.
  • 03If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
  • ··3 more entries
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@calunderlines

Kurt Vonnegut's eight rules for a short story

8 items
  • 01Use the time of a total stranger in such a way that he or she will not feel the time was wasted.
  • 02Give the reader at least one character he or she can root for.
  • 03Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water.
  • ··5 more entries
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@ravibuilds

the rules behind Amazon's six-page memo

10 items
  • 01no PowerPoint, ever
  • 02six pages, narrative prose
  • 03study hall: 20 to 30 minutes of silent reading
  • ··7 more entries
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@umakerns

pixar's 22 rules of storytelling, the 18 I actually use

18 items
  • 01You admire a character for trying more than for their successes.
  • 02You gotta keep in mind what's interesting to you as an audience, not what's fun to do as a writer.
  • 03Trying for theme is important, but you won't see what the story is actually about til you're at the end of it. Now rewrite.
  • ··15 more entries
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@bennysets

how a tight 5 gets built

9 items
  • 01write down everything that happened to you this week
  • 02find the actual opinion under the story
  • 03say it exactly as written at an open mic, once
  • ··6 more entries
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@calunderlines

elmore leonard's 10 rules of writing (2001)

10 items
  • 01Never open a book with the weather.
  • 02Avoid prologues.
  • 03Never use a verb other than "said" to carry dialogue.
  • ··7 more entries
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@calunderlines

Zadie Smith's ten rules of writing

10 items
  • 01When still a child, make sure you read a lot of books. Spend more time doing this than anything else.
  • 02When an adult, try to read your own work as a stranger would read it, or even better, as an enemy would.
  • 03Don't romanticise your 'vocation'. You can either write good sentences or you can't. There is no 'writer's lifestyle'. All that matters is what you leave on the page.
  • ··7 more entries
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