A.L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules For Writing Fiction

Discover Scottish writer A. L. Kennedy’s 10 rules for writing fiction and learn how her advice can help you improve your writing.

A.L. Kennedy (Alison Louise Kennedy) is a Scottish writer born on 22 October 1965.

She has written nine novels, six short story collections, three books of non-fiction, three books for children, and a book called On Writing.

Kennedy is a Fellow of the Royal Society of Arts and the Royal Society of Literature. She has twice been named in Granta’s Best of Young British Novelists list. Her many awards include the Costa Book of the Year for her novel Day.

She writes for stage, radio, television, and film. She also writes and performs one-person shows and contributes to a range of UK and international publications, including The Guardian online.

A.L. Kennedy’s 10 Rules for Writing Fiction

1. Have humility. Older/more ­experienced/more convincing writers may offer rules and varieties of advice. ­Consider what they say. However, don’t automatically give them charge of your brain, or anything else – they might be bitter, twisted, burned-out, manipulative, or just not very like you.
2. Have more humility. Remember you don’t know the limits of your own abilities. Successful or not, if you keep pushing beyond yourself, you will enrich your own life – and maybe even please a few strangers.
3. Defend others. You can, of course, steal stories and attributes from family and friends, fill in filecards after lovemaking and so forth. It might be better to celebrate those you love – and love itself – by writing in such a way that everyone keeps their privacy and dignity intact.
4. Defend your work. Organisations, institutions and individuals will often think they know best about your work – especially if they are paying you. When you genuinely believe their decisions would damage your work – walk away. Run away. The money doesn’t matter that much.
5. Defend yourself. Find out what keeps you happy, motivated, and creative.
6. Write. No amount of self-inflicted misery, altered states, black pullovers, or being publicly obnoxious will ever add up to your being a writer. Writers write. On you go.
7. Read. As much as you can. As deeply and widely and nourishingly and irritatingly as you can. And the good things will make you remember them, so you won’t need to take notes.
8. Be without fear. This is impossible, but let the small fears drive your rewriting and set aside the large ones ­until they behave – then use them, maybe even write them. Too much fear and all you’ll get is silence.
9. Remember you love writing. It wouldn’t be worth it if you didn’t. If the love fades, do what you need to and get it back.
10. Remember writing doesn’t love you. It doesn’t care. Nevertheless, it can behave with remarkable generosity. Speak well of it, encourage others, pass it on.

This advice first appeared in The Guardian
Source for image: Wikipedia

by Amanda Patterson

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