Mark Bruce’s Ten Rules for Writing Anything

I do not think of myself as a writing guru, and will not until my books are selling in the millions. Even then, I will be highly suspicious of any advice I can give other writers, seeing how I struggled for 65 years to get anything of value published.

Still, these are things I’ve learned over the years which might help you, young writer. Take ’em or leave ’em.

1. Don’t lie to yourself. Write with your heart’s blood or not at all.
2. Don’t write something you’ve read in another story.
3. Don’t throw some pathetic scene in to elicit your reader’s emotion. They will hate you for it.
4. Include details you’ve actually observed in life. Even in a Dragon Fantasy story.
5. People should behave like people.
6. Listen to your characters.
7. People should talk like people.
8. Don’t force your humor. Don’t use old jokes in your prose unless it’s part of the character. Don’t think you’re funny because you’re quoting a bumper sticker.
9. The story has to end somehow. Do not leave the reader dangling or have the piece end in the exact same place as it began.
10. Enough with the description, already. Give the necessary details of the surroundings and move on.

And these ten extra thoughts:

1. Don’t refer to obscure literature or art unless you’re prepared to describe them to the reader. And before you do that, think of how tedious that will be.
2. Avoid the Deus Ex Machina ending even if you are writing farce.
3. If you are writing about non-humans, make their behavior consistent with what they are. An eagle will never spare a mouse out of kindness, even on Christmas Eve. A dog will never let a ball go unchased. A cat will do what it damned well wants no matter what you think.
4. There is almost always a better verb than “to be.”
5. Use adverbs sparingly. As I just did.
6. Don’t eliminate crucial information from your story until the end. The reader will hate you for it.
7. Try to surprise yourself.
8. Keep track of present, past, and future tense.
9. Keep track of your story’s timeline.
10. If you’re not enjoying it, you’re not doing it right. That goes for writing, sports and sex.