fresh perspective

Have I ever mentioned how much I like listening to/reading established authors talk about their craft? I especially enjoy it when they go beyond the basics that I've known since I was twelve, as they did in this neat list from The Guardian.

This rule of fiction writing, from Helen Dunmore, really caught my eye:

"Finish the day's writing when you still want to continue."

That, to me, is an interesting thought. The obvious thing here is, why stop when you've got some momentum going? In my mind, this means "stop when you still want to write because that'll carry over into the next time you sit down to get work done." And an obvious corollary would be "keep going even when you don't want to continue anymore."

It's an interesting piece of advice. I might just try it sometime.

And Elmore Leonard wins at life for saying to use exclamation marks sparingly. I *hate* those things. The writing should be dramatic enough on its own without that (and don't get me started on that damned interrobang -- Google it).

That's definitely a good list, though. It goes above and beyond the typical beginner's advice. And I love Roddy Doyle's list.