Terry Pratchett on writing:
1. Watch everything, read everything, and especially read outside your subject—you should be importing, not recycling.
2. Use a word processor. Why do I feel this is not unnecessary advice here? It makes everything mutable. It's better for the ego. And you can play games when all else fails.
3. Write. For more than three years I wrote more than 400 words every day. I mean, every calendar day. If for some reason, in those pre-portable days, I couldn't get to a keyboard, I wrote hard the previous night and caught up the following day, and if it ever seemed that it was easy to do the average I upped the average. I also did a hell of a lot of editing afterwards but the point was there was something there to edit. I had a more than full-time job as well. I hate to say this, but most of the successful (well, okay…rich) authors I know seem to put "application" around the top of the list of how-to-do-its. Tough but true.
For more quotes, visit Ealasaid's Pratchett page.
2.17.2011
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I just want to say yes to number one. I read so many different types of things, and I think of it all as research.
ReplyDeleteYes. Although I don't know what she means by the second-to last sentence. Does she mean "applying her skills?"
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