27 golden rules of writing

From The Dialogue series.

Everyone has an angle, a rule, a strategy to get themselves to write well. Get the advice from writers who have made it work for them.

1. “You’ve got a good character when you know what he would say at any moment or to any question or any situation that arises.” -Stuart Beattie
2. “A lot of the time, it’s more interesting what the characters are not saying than what they are saying.” -Alex Kurtzman & Roberto Orci
3. “Every time you’re in a scene, you’ve got to know, ‘What’s the point? Why am I doing this scene? What am I saying?’ As soon as you say it, get the hell out. That’s it.” -Peter Tolan
4. “All you have is your voice and your unique take on the world. If you can follow that and forget about everything else, that’s where you’ll achieve success.” -John Hamburg
5. “The most valuable thing I did as a writer was to take an acting class. And once you understand what the actors are looking for, that’s how you write.” -Paul Attanasio
6. “Everybody wants to say cool dialogue. That’s all there is to it.” -Sheldon Turner
7. “When I’m writing, I think, ‘I want an actor to read this and say, “I have to be the person who gets to say this out loud.” -Callie Khouri
8. “I think discipline is the most important muscle for a writer. You do have to get into a certain rhythm, writing-wise, to convince yourself to do it every day.” -Simon Kinberg

Read the complete list here.

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