Over at his blog, Ecstatic Days, Jeff Vandermeer has taken the time to give up and coming writers some tips from the heart… or rather, tips from the evil monkey chained to his desk. Always worth listening to, Vandermeer pulls back a little bit of the curtain and says things that most writers probably think, but don’t want to say.
A couple of my favourites:
(2) Understand that you need to pay your dues. The worst thing you can possibly do as a beginning writer is think because you have a blog, a pen, and MySpace account that you and Gene Wolfe are now best pals and should be sharing writing advice with one another. If a Wolfe-type wants to, hey–that’s great. None of us are posturing. But don’t assume it.
(4) Read books you don’t like. You gain as much from understanding what you don’t like and knowing why as from reading work you approve of.
(7) Nothing worth doing is easy. Your apprenticeship might last more than a decade. Don’t whine about it. Suck it up, put in the work, and keep improving your fiction.
You can find the whole thing HERE.
Some of the best tips about writing and being a writer I’ve read.
BoB