Every writer knows the feeling. You sit down with time set aside, a cup of coffee, and a clean page, and nothing comes. The story was clear in your head an hour ago. Now it won't budge. Ernest Hemingway knew that feeling too, and the way he got past it is one of the simplest pieces of writing advice ever put on paper. The advice "All you have to do is write one true sentence. Write the truest sentence that you know." — Ernest Hemingway, A Moveable Feast (1964) A Moveable Feas

By Dr Dan A loaded rifle hangs over the fireplace in Act One. By Act Three, the audience is waiting. If nobody ever touches it, they leave the theater feeling cheated, and possibly a little nervous. Anton Chekhov, the Russian doctor who wrote short stories and plays on the side (or perhaps practiced medicine on the side), turned that feeling into some of the most famous writing advice ever given. The advice "One must never place a loaded rifle on the stage if it isn't going t

Some writing advice takes a whole book to explain. Mark Twain needed one sentence and a joke about bugs. It may be the most memorable thing anyone has said about word choice, and it is just as useful now as it was in 1888. The advice "The difference between the almost right word and the right word is really a large matter—'tis the difference between the lightning-bug and the lightning." — Mark Twain, letter to George Bainton, 15 October 1888, published in The Art of Authorshi

By Dr Dan Some writing advice arrives as a thick system. Kurt Vonnegut gave us eleven words that do more work than most of those systems put together. The advice "Every character should want something, even if it is only a glass of water." — Kurt Vonnegut, introduction to Bagombo Snuff Box (1999) It is rule three of the eight rules he called "Creative Writing 101" in that introduction. He also said great writers break his rules. He named Flannery O'Connor, who "broke practica

By Dr Dan Stephen King reduces the writing life to two habits. They sound simple, but they are demanding because they require steady attention over time: read a lot and write a lot. The advice is useful for beginners, experienced writers, and anyone who has ever wondered whether they have started too late. The advice "If you want to be a writer, you must do two things above all others: read a lot and write a lot. There's no way around these two things that I'm aware of, no sh