I am a self-taught writer. And as in other fields of
endeavor, a writer who has himself for a teacher has a fool for a student. That
being as it may; I have read a lot, both for recreation and to learn my craft. Those
writers who took the time to explain our craft in a manner I could understand
are my teachers, although most of them have never met me personally.
Authors kind enough to give their time to explain how they
go about their craft, are numerous. The number that truly help neophytes writers
in need of learning – mea culpa – are less in number. In this case, most of
those who can’t do and plenty of those that can do, just can’t teach. Making up a story is a completely different art from putting facts on the page and delineating procedures that allow an author to communicate well to his audience.
It is rare that you find someone who is good at
both. Stephen King comes to mind.
That is where one of my teachers, Sol Stein, excels. I have
never met him, but I have read his manuscript: Stein on Writing – A master editor of some of the most successful
writers of our century shares his craft techniques and strategies. It is
without doubt one of the best teaching sources for beginning to intermediate
authors. The book was published by St. Martin, Griffin in 1995. It is worth
looking for this manuscript. I have found it still advertised online. If this manuscript were to go out of print that would truly be a shame. It is instructional and a reference source.
The jacket cover presents an accurate descriptive quote from
Sol Stein concerning his book. “Sol Stein, renowned editor, author, and
instructor, explains, This is not a book of theory. It is a book of usable
solutions – how to fix writing that is flawed, how to improve writing that is
good, how to create interesting writing in the first place.”
So much for my professor’s credentials, even though I have
not fully delineated all his achievement in the creative arts. Let’s get to the meat of this post. From Stein on Writing (p.302), I present:
The
Ten Commandments for Writers.
1.
Thou Shalt not sprinkle characters into a preconceived plot lest thou produce
hackwork. In the beginning was the character, then the word, and from the
character’s words is brought forth action.
2.
Thou shalt imbue thy heroes with faults and they villains with charm, for it is
the faults of the hero that bring forth his life, just as the charm of the villain
is the honey with which he lures the innocent.
3.
Thy characters shall steal, kill, dishonor their parents, bear false witness,
and covet their neighbor’s house, wife, manservant, maidservant, ox, and ass,
for reader’s crave such actions and yawn when thy characters are meek,
innocent, forgiving, and peaceable.
4.
Thou shalt not saw the air with abstractions, for readers, like lovers, are
attracted by particularity.
5.
Thou Shalt not mutter, whisper, blurt, bellow, or scream. For it is the words
and not the characterization of the words must carry their decibels.
6.
Thou shalt infect thy reader with anxiety, stress, and tension, for those
conditions that he deplores in life he relishes in fiction.
7.
Thy language shall be precise, clear, and bear the wings of angels, for
anything less is the province of businessmen and academics and not of writers.
8.
Thou shalt have no rest on the Sabbath, for they characters shall live in thy
mind and memory now and forever.
9.
Thou shalt not forget that dialogue is as a foreign tongue, a semblance of
speech and not a record of it, a language in which directness diminishes and
obliqueness sings.
10.
Above all, thou shalt not vent thy emotions onto the reader, for thy duty is to
evoke the reader’s emotions, and in that most of all lies the art of the
writer.
I believe the author who can violate this commandments only
with good reason is well on his way to becoming a great storyteller. His
characters will live on the page and project off it into the imagination of his
readers.
-- L. Preschel author of the Sam-Cath mysteries.
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