Friday Fives: Best Advice Evah!

Advising Song of the Day: "Suggestions" by System of a Down

Once again, we're joining Pam's awesome blog, Paper Hangover for some Friday Fives fun!





This week, they wanna know:

What are FIVE pieces of useful advice you have received as an aspiring writer? Either in quotes, blog posts, websites or communities.

Great question, right? Here are 5 things we've picked up along the way:


1.) Revise, revise, then revise again: Your first draft will always be different from the final (if there is even a final--several authors have said at conferences that they find things they want to change in their books that are already published) and you have to sometimes "kill your darlings".

2.) Any response is a good response: Even if you get a pass on a partial or full request--at least you got a request in the first place! Someone is reading YOUR writing, right?

3.) If you love to write, then write: NOTHING should get in the way of writing if you are a true writer. That doesn't mean you have to write everyday (funerals, births etc. obviously take precedence), but if you truly want to be a writer, there should be some writing going on--and a lot of it!

4.) This is ALL subjective: This is probably the BEST advice we've received. While one agent/editor may not like your novel--there are maybe two or three out there who do. Yes, sometimes there are things we need to work on with our writing, but overall the business of writing books is based on someone's opinion.

5.) Read, read, and read some more!: You can never read enough novels. This is part of our job as writers. If we want to write a certain genre or for a certain audience then we need to read novels in that genre or area of fiction/non-fiction. This way we can learn from it. It's just like how a doctor should read medical journals. Yes, we did just compare writers to doctors.

What has been some great advice that you have received through your journey as a writer?