Authors' words of wisdom

I found this post on writing advice from famous authors on the Guardian Book Blog today.

A few of my favorites:

Elmore Leonard:

~ Using adverbs is a mortal sin. [This is one that I sometimes struggle with; for some reason I'm always tempted to over-describe: "She said softly;" "He looked pleadingly at the judge," etc.]

Roddy Doyle:

~ Do not place a photograph of your ­favourite author on your desk, especially if the author is one of the famous ones who committed suicide.

Geoff Dyer:

~ Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I ­always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.

~ Beware of clichés. Not just the ­clichés that Martin Amis is at war with. There are clichés of response as well as expression. There are clichés of observation and of thought – even of conception. Many novels, even quite a few adequately written ones, are ­clichés of form which conform to clichés of expectation.

Anne Enright:

~ Only bad writers think that their work is really good.

Richard Ford:

~ Don't have children.

Neil Gaiman:

~ Write.

David Hare:

~ The two most depressing words in the English language are "literary fiction." [I'm beginning to think so too... I do like a lot of books that are considered literary fiction, but I've read just as many lately that just seem overly mopey and boring. But maybe that's just me.]

PD James:

~ Read widely and with discrimination. Bad writing is contagious.

~ Open your mind to new experiences, particularly to the study of other ­people. Nothing that happens to a writer – however happy, however tragic – is ever wasted.

Michael Morpurgo:

~ The prerequisite for me is to keep my well of ideas full. This means living as full and varied a life as possible, to have my antennae out all the time.

Zadie Smith:

~ Work on a computer that is disconnected from the internet. [This is what got me through my MA dissertation.]

Sarah Waters:

~ Don't panic. Midway through writing a novel, I have regularly experienced moments of bowel-curdling terror, as I contemplate the drivel on the screen before me and see beyond it, in quick succession, the derisive reviews, the friends' embarrassment, the failing career, the dwindling income, the repossessed house, the divorce . . . Working doggedly on through crises like these, however, has always got me there in the end.

Jeanette Winterson:

~ Turn up for work. Discipline allows creative freedom. No discipline equals no freedom.

~ Never stop when you are stuck. You may not be able to solve the problem, but turn aside and write something else. Do not stop altogether.

Joyce Carol Oates:

~ Keep a light, hopeful heart. But expect the worst.