If
there were ten commandments for a writer, what do you all think they would be?
I have compiled a small list. According to me a writer’s ten commandments would
be:
1.
Thou shall not covet thy neighbour’s or another writer's character/story/book/agent.
2.
Thou shall only worship one God: thy muse.Thou should love and respect it.
3.
Thou shall consider one’s writing time holy and sacred and not spoil it
with
distractions that come in the form of Facebook, Twitter and Cell phones.
4.
Thou shall honour one’s Characters and Plot.
5.
Thou shall believe in Revisions, Revisions and more Revisions.
6.
Thou shall adopt atleast two Crit Partners before unleashing one’s book on
the unsuspecting readers.
7.
Thou shall avoid clichés and stereotypes.
8. Thou shall love thy Manuscript and believe in
it inspite of the rejections
piling up.
9. Thou shall not try to kill thy readers with boredom. Thou shall come up with
original plots and characters that will interest readers.
10. Thou
shall not curse agents or wish them evil in case of rejections.
What are your writing/writer commandments? Any new commandment you would
like to share with us? Is there any commandment that you have ignored. I have been guilty of ignoring all the commandments at some time or the other. Please share your writing sins with us.
This is great, Rachna! I remember writing my own list of ten commandments a year ago. Let me go forth and dig it out!
ReplyDeleteLove these. I would add. Thou shall not let rejections get you so down it affects your writing. Don't take it personally. Take it as feedback!
ReplyDeleteAwesome, Rachna! Love #9! I did a 10 Commandments post a couple months ago and mine are a little different: http://lauramarcella.blogspot.com/2011/08/5-for-friday-x2-ten-commandments-for.html
ReplyDeleteReading a lot and being sure to take a break in order to "fill up the well" are good commandments for writers, too! Have a great weekend. :)
I like #9!
ReplyDeleteVisiting you from Stephen Tremp's blog today.
Another fantastic post. I couldn't keep you all to myself and I highlighted your blog on my post today. Go check it out!
ReplyDeletehttp://bit.ly/nIgjRa
Fun post. Thanks for the list. Like Lydia, I also highlighted your blog today. You deserve it. Have a great weekend!
ReplyDeleteLol, awesome! I like the 9th commandment especially...don't bore your readers:)
ReplyDeleteThou shall not edit or revise until the first draft is done.
ReplyDeleteThou shall plant thy buttocks in chair until the first draft is done.
@ Gargi...I would love to read your ten commandments.
ReplyDelete@ Laura Pauling...its nice to meet you. Not letting rejections affect our writing is the best gift we can give ourselves.
@ Laura Marcella...I am going to check out your ten commandments. Yes, reading a lot, should be on the list.
@ Diane..nice to meet you.
@ Lydia and Stephen..I am glad I met the two of you. You two are absolutely adorable. Hugs to both of you. Thanks for the shout out.
@ Mark....the 9th commandment is my favourite too.
@ SBJones...completely agree with both your commandments.
Nice one!!! If I was writer , I would have broke 3rd for sure
ReplyDeleteLove this list, Rachna! I would add, Thou shalt WRITE. I say this because the day has gotten away from me and I haven't written one word yet :-(
ReplyDeleteHave a great weekend!
knowledge :)
ReplyDeleteWeakest LINK
That's an excellent list!
ReplyDeleteso well written, Rachna! Your word is my command!!!
ReplyDeleteHi Rachna .. I think I probably need to get my life in order and write my own 10 commandments for getting that done .. thanks for the push! Cheers and good to meet you - I came over from Stephen's blog .. Hilary
ReplyDeletehttp://www.positiveletters.com
Awesome post, I absolutely loved it! I'm here because of Lydia and am now following you. :)
ReplyDeleteThis is an awesome list. I'd follow these commandments.
ReplyDeleteI'm a new follower from Lydia's blogfest.
Number 3 for sure! Perhaps, Thou shalt set a writing goal and stick to it. :)
ReplyDeleteGood commandment's Rachna. One of mine is to never forget the sensory details. I'm running behind on my visits. Gotta come back and check out the two posts below. Have a great weekend.
ReplyDeleteLove it, especially #1!
ReplyDeleteJ.C.
Join me in the Trick or Treat Spooktacular! Could you help make the Grand Prize a brand new Kindle Touch?
I came over from Lydia's blog. Thanks for your encouraging words about my new release. I'm following you now.
ReplyDeleteLove these commandments. I've getting better with #3. :D
ReplyDeleteApparently I'm not too hot at editing my comments. Good thing that wasn't a commandment. ;)
ReplyDeletelol, #9 is awesome.
ReplyDeleteYou make some good points, Rachna. I think a set of guidelines can be a big help to stay focused.
ReplyDeleteOh those horrid cliches --they get me every book.
ReplyDeleteLOLOLOL!! This is so awesome and so funny! Loved it!
ReplyDeleteXD
These are awesome! I always break the no-distractions one though. :/
ReplyDeleteI found this post through Gargi's WordPress blog. I said, "How weird that we both posted on the same type of thing at the same time!" Although, I named my post 'The 10 editing commandments'. Check it out here: http://rebeccaberto.wordpress.com/2011/11/30/the-10-editing-commandments/
ReplyDelete