Rules of Thumb: 71 Authors Reveal Their Fiction Writing Fixations

Neophyte scribblers should eat well (broccoli is a recommended brain food), avoid writing dream sequences, establish writing routines, write short chapters whenever possible and, above all else, ""be wary of rules of thumb,"" because too many ""can make a chap all thumbs."" These advice snippets come from established writers and are collected in this go-to resource for blocked, procrastinating or otherwise distracted would-be writers in need of a quasi-mentoring. The counsel runs the gamut and can be contradictory-Molly Giles's contribution, for instance, is a list of incongruous ""tips, tricks, tics, and tools"" provided to her by her writer pals, and John Barth cautions against adhering to rules of thumb-but the ground covered is wide enough and the means varied enough that most young writers (many of the contributors teach at university writing workshops) will have no trouble finding helpful craft niblets (use ""such"" as little as possible; crying is okay, but do not write the word ""tear"") or a helpful tic to adopt.