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By Root 565 0

need to have another project in the works so the momentary pain of the rejection will be diluted by your faith and hope in the later project. If its bought, you need to have another project under way so you can send it out, too, and soon, and possibly sell it as well.

Whatever your circumstances, as a writer of fiction you need to be continually involved in the writing process. As noted at the very beginning of this brief excursion through some of the "don'ts," being at work makes future work seem easier, better oiled. For the sake of keeping your imagination smooth and your work habits disciplined, you must make a continuous effort.

Also, please note this: no writer can count on making a career out of one story or even one book. (Even Margaret Mitchell had written a tremendous amount of fiction, much unpublished, before her classic Gone With the Wind. And there is reason to believe that if she had lived, she would have written and published again.)

Your writing career, in other words, cannot be a one-shot operation. No matter how successful your last-completed story may become, you are going to need to write again.

Which is still another reason why you simply can't afford to sit around, waiting to see what happens to the last story... waiting for inspiration... waiting for anything. Whatever happens tomorrow, you need to be writing when it does.

So continue your current project now, today. Or start a new one. Now. Today. Don't sit around another moment.

Good luck!

Table of Contents

Don't Make Excuses

Don't Consider Yourself Too Smart

Don't Show Off When You Write

Don't Expect Miracles

Don't Warm Up Your Engines

Don't Describe Sunsets

Don't Use Real People in Your Story

Don't Write About Wimps

Don't Duck Trouble

Don't Have Things Happen for No Reason

Don't Forget Stimulus and Response

Don't Forget Whose Story It Is

Don't Fail to Make the Viewpoint Clear

Don't Lecture Your Reader

Don't Let Characters Lecture, Either

Don't Let Them Be Windbags

Don't Mangle Characters' Speech

Don't Forget Sense Impressions

Don't Be Afraid to Say "Said"

Don't Assume You Know; Look It Up

Don't Ever Stop Observing and Making Notes

Don't Ignore Scene Structure

Don't Drop Alligators Through the Transom

Don't Forget to Let Your Characters Think

Don't Wander Around in a Fog

Don't Worry About Being Obvious

Don't Criticize Yourself to Death

Don't Worry What Mother Will Think

Don't Hide From Your Feelings

Don't Take It to the Club Meeting

Don't Ignore Professional Advice

Don't Chase the Market

Don't Pose and Posture

Don't Waste Your Plot Ideas

Don't Stop Too Soon

Don't Prejudice Your Editor

Don't Just Sit There