Blog Writing Tips from the World’s Most Famous Authors

In: blogging

25 Dec 2009

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You know me, I always encourage you to experiment, to learn new things, to reinvent yourself, but sometime the wheel doesn’t not need to be reinvented. Sometimes the best thing to do is to learn from the experience and wisdom of our “elders”. Such is the case of today’s blog post. Instead of sharing some of my own tips with you, I’ll leave you in the company of some of the world’s most famous authors and only interpret their teachings in the art of writing.

Easy reading is damn hard writing.
Nathaniel Hawthorne

Have something to say, and say it as clearly as you can. That is the only secret.
Matthew Arnold

It’s easy to get lost in words and ideas. It’s harder to keep your writing concise and to the point, to make it clear and easy to read. Focus on getting your ideas across, to your readers, in their most natural form. Nathaniel Hawthorne and Matthew Arnold both agree on this.

A professional writer is an amateur who didn’t quit.
Richard Bach

If you write one story, it may be bad; if you write a hundred, you have the odds in your favor.
Edgar Rice Burroughs

Writing is a continuous activity. You experiment constantly. You learn and evolve. The more you write, the better the chances to put something good out there. It’s “trial and error” until it becomes “trial and success”.

You can’t wait for inspiration. You have to go after it with a club.
Jack London

It’s something I’ve always preached. Keep your eyes and ears open to the world around you. Look for inspiration in every single thing you read, hear and see. There’s actually no such thing as a “writer’s block”, but rather failure in finding a good starting point.

Tell the readers a story! Because without a story, you are merely using words to prove you can string them together in logical sentences.
Anne McCaffrey

Stories… even simple news have a story behind. Give people a story they can relate to. Give them a story they can understand and let them draw conclusions themselves. Give them the tools and let them build their own result.

The most essential gift for a good writer is a built-in, shock-proof, shit detector. This is the writer’s radar and all great writers have had it.
Ernest Hemingway

I try to leave out the parts that people skip.
Elmore Leonard

Being a good editor is also a must for a good writer. Proof-reading and “shit detecting” as Hemingway calls it are required in order to make sure you get the best possible copy out there. What’s harder to achieve though, is being neutral, looking at your own work from an outsider’s perspective.

The two most engaging powers of an author are to make new things familiar and familiar things new.
Samuel Johnson

When 20 people are writing about the same thing, the only one to “make it” is the one putting it in a new light. There’s no point in doing the same things in the same way. Find your original angle.

What is written without effort is in generally read without pleasure.
Samuel Johnson

And your original angle comes from within your original voice. Put your heart and mind into your writings. Put passion into writing and passion with be reborn into reading.


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5 Responses to Blog Writing Tips from the World’s Most Famous Authors

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Kimberley Wise

February 8th, 2010 at 3:27 pm

He is correct.
This whole Obama is a muslim crap is just permission for bigotry by the right wing. It might not be kosher to openly hate someone for their color, but you can openly hate them for their religion – and that's not racism according to these people.

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briggy

March 11th, 2010 at 3:51 am

Please do your own homework.

I don't mind discussing it with you, but it's obvious you haven't so much as opened it. Don't be so lazy.

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hickcrazy1

March 16th, 2010 at 6:21 pm

I think he means that people hold themselves back with fears and inhibitions from attempting things they think are "impossible" and deny themselves the pleasures of adventure, curiosity and discovery.

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RickyRedwood

March 21st, 2010 at 4:24 am

This takes some work, but here it goes.

For each slide, you will need to duplicate it as many times as you have points to be made. For example, if you have three points you want to make, you are going to need three slides.

On the first slide, put point 1 only. On the second slide, put points 1 and 2. On the third slide, put points 1, 2, and 3.

Edit slide 2 so that point 1 is dimmed. You can do this by changing the text to a darker color (gray, for instance). Leave your 2nd point bright.

Edit slide 3 sol that points 1 and 2 are dimmed (see above). Leave your 3rd point bright. If you use the dissolve transition, it will appear that your new point is fading in as the old point is fading out. Make sure you don't accidentally move the text or it will look bad.

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TK

March 23rd, 2010 at 12:38 am

I think it really depends on the individual honestly. But since you don't really have the option of deciding who reads your book and who doesn't – I would say leave it in. I think that it would be perfectly fine being that the book is based on vampires after all. If you are still concerned however, I might suggest leaving out most of the gory details (the blood, the open wound, etc) and play up the emotion of the moment rather than the actual stabbing.

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