Photo by rawpixel on Unsplash

12 Bestselling Authors Give You Their Best Writing Tips

Become a better writer with these 20 great tips from 12 bestselling authors.

There’s no other way to slice it — being a writer is hard. Just when you think you’ve got a really great idea, the reality of writing threatens to tear you down. Every. Single. Time.

How can you stay positive, focused and motivated to bring that story to life or finish that novel you’ve always dreamed of? Listen to the advice of these 12 bestselling authors — your writing (and sanity) will thank you.

On Reading:

• “My first rule was given to me by TH White, author of The Sword in the Stone and other Arthurian fantasies and was: Read. Read everything you can lay hands on. I always advise people who want to write a fantasy or science fiction or romance to stop reading everything in those genres and start reading everything else from Bunyan to Byatt.” — Michael Moorcock
• “Read it aloud to yourself because that’s the only way to be sure the rhythms of the sentences are OK (prose rhythms are too complex and subtle to be thought out — they can be got right only by ear).” — Diana Athill

On Planning & Preparing

• “In the planning stage of a book, don’t plan the ending. It has to be earned by all that will go before it.” — Rose Tremain
• “It’s doubtful that anyone with an internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction.” — Johnathan Franzen
• “Protect the time and space in which you write. Keep everybody away from it, even the people who are most important to you.” — Zadie Smith

On Inspiration

• “Always carry a note-book. And I mean always. The short-term memory only retains information for three minutes; unless it is committed to paper you can lose an idea for ever.” — Will Self
• “Fiction that isn’t an author’s personal adventure into the frightening or the unknown isn’t worth writing for anything but money.” — Johnathan Franzen

On Writing

• “Introduce your main characters and themes in the first third of your novel. If you are writing a plot-driven genre novel make sure all your major themes/plot elements are introduced in the first third, which you can call the introduction. Develop your themes and characters in your second third, the development. Resolve your themes, mysteries and so on in the final third, the resolution.” — Michael Moorcock
• “Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet.” — Zadie Smith
• “Interesting verbs are seldom very interesting.” — Johnathan Franzen
• “Don’t tell me the moon is shining; show me the glint of light on broken glass.” — Anton Chekov
• “The reader is a friend, not an adversary, not a spectator.” — Johnathan Franzen
• “Keep your exclamation points under control. You are allowed no more than two or three per 100,000 words of prose. If you have the knack of playing with exclaimers the way Tom Wolfe does, you can throw them in by the handful.” — Elmore Leonard
• “The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you’re allowed to do whatever you like. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it’s definitely true for writing.) So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I’m not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter.” — Neil Gaiman
• “The nearest I have to a rule is a Post-it on the wall in front of my desk saying ‘Faire et se taire’ (Flaubert), which I translate for myself as ‘Shut up and get on with it.’” — Helen Simpson

On Editing & Critiques

• “Remember: when people tell you something’s wrong or doesn’t work for them, they are almost always right. When they tell you exactly what they think is wrong and how to fix it, they are almost always wrong.” — Neil Gaiman
• “Be your own editor/critic. Sympathetic but merciless!” — Joyce Carol Oates
• “Listen to the criticisms and preferences of your trusted ‘first readers.’” — Rose Tremain

On Strength & Surviving

• “Don’t panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends’ embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce . . . Working doggedly on through crises like these, however, has always got me there in the end. Leaving the desk for a while can help. Talking the problem through can help me recall what I was trying to achieve before I got stuck. Going for a long walk almost always gets me thinking about my manuscript in a slightly new way. And if all else fails, there’s prayer. St Francis de Sales, the patron saint of writers, has often helped me out in a crisis. If you want to spread your net more widely, you could try appealing to Calliope, the muse of epic poetry, too.” — Sarah Waters
• “You know that sickening feeling of inadequacy and over-exposure you feel when you look upon your own empurpled prose? Relax into the awareness that this ghastly sensation will never, ever leave you, no matter how successful and publicly lauded you become. It is intrinsic to the real business of writing and should be cherished.” — Will Self

Putting it all together…

So what can we take away from these 12 tips? Relax. Being a writer is hard and a journey that’s fraught with setbacks. Embrace it. Take feedback and criticism onboard with an open heart. Don’t shy away from editing and put your all into your manuscript. Introduce your characters early, develop your themes next and finally resolve all your mysteries in the end. Read everything you can and read it aloud. All that under your belt? Then plan, plan, plan.

Got an author who really inspires you? Share them with me in the comments below.

Want more great content like this? Don’t forget to follow me on Twitter, Tumblr and Facebook.