Jay's Guidelines

[deborahjross]

I love jaylake's GL for writing more (slightly condensed so you will of course hie yourself to his LJ to read more...

• Write something every week. (A story, a chapter, something discrete and measurable.)


• Finish everything you start.


• Don't self-critique while you're writing.


• Work on one thing at a time. (In my case, a novel, a short story, a collab and a nonfiction project can all run in parallel. But if I work on two of the same thing, the voice bleeds over and I lose track of continuity.)

I would add, "Don't read anyone else's work that's too close to what you're writing." For me, this doesn't affect output per se, but it can distort my own voice and vision and then what I write is such meandering derivative crap I might as well have not bothered.

Comments

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

it can distort my own voice and vision and then what I write is such meandering derivative crap I might as well have not bothered.

I am so glad it isn't just me that this happens to. I get dragged into someone else's voice and it is really not good at all. That is an excellent piece of advice you give there!

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

This is yet another reason why it's so helpful for me to network with other writers. Otherwise, I start thinking I'm "the only one," and a totally hopeless case.

I compare my insides with other people's outsides, and that way lies madness.

[http://users.livejournal.com/la_marquise_de_/]

Oh, absolutely. And the internet has been a gift in this respect.

[klwilliams.livejournal.com]

I tend to read nonfiction when I'm starting a project, until I have the voice of the story firmly in place.

[deborahjross.livejournal.com]

Great strategy. I try to keep one nonfiction and one fiction book going. The nonfiction does a lot of good stuff, but my inner child gets cranky on a steady diet of it. It's a good thing I enjoy many sorts of fiction!