Writers Write Is All About Writing
Writers Write Is All About Writing
Anne Enright’s 10 Rules For Writing Fiction

Anne Enright’s 10 Rules For Writing Fiction

Discover Anne Enright’s 10 rules for writing fiction and learn how the award-winning Irish novelist approaches the craft of storytelling.

Anne Enright is an Irish novelist, short-story writer, and essayist. She was born on 11 October 1962.

She has published eight novels, numerous short stories, and a non-fiction book, Making Babies: Stumbling into Motherhood. She is also a Fellow of the Royal Society of Literature.

Her work spans literary fiction, family drama, and contemporary fiction. She explores themes such as family relationships, love, motherhood, childbirth, sexuality, the Catholic Church, and the female body. Her writing also examines memory, grief, and the lasting effects of childhood experiences.

Enright’s writing is often brutally honest, cynical, and sometimes disturbing. However, her trademark deadpan humour balances the darker elements, while moments of love and healing offer glimpses of hope.

Her novel The Gathering won the 2007 Man Booker Prize.

Anne Enright’s 10 Rules For Writing Fiction

  1. The first 12 years are the worst.
  2. The way to write a book is to actually write a book. A pen is useful, typing is also good. Keep putting words on the page.
  3. Only bad writers think that their work is really good.
  4. Description is hard. Remember that all description is an opinion about the world. Find a place to stand.
  5. Write whatever way you like. Fiction is made of words on a page; reality is made of something else. It doesn’t matter how ‘real’ your story is, or how ‘made up’: what matters is its necessity.
  6. Try to be accurate about stuff.
  7. Imagine that you are dying. If you had a terminal disease would you ­finish this book? Why not? The thing that annoys this 10-weeks-to-live self is the thing that is wrong with the book. So change it. Stop arguing with yourself. Change it. See? Easy. And no one had to die.
  8. You can also do all that with whiskey.
  9. Have fun.
  10. Remember, if you sit at your desk for 15 or 20 years, every day, not ­counting weekends, it changes you. It just does. It may not improve your temper, but it fixes something else. It makes you more free.

The Last Word

Anne Enright’s rules for writing fiction offer writers a fresh perspective on the craft. Her advice encourages us to think carefully about language, characters, and the choices we make as storytellers. By questioning our habits and trusting our instincts, we can find new ways to strengthen our writing.

Source for rules: The Guardian
Source for image: Hpschaefer, CC BY 3.0, via Wikimedia Commons
https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Enright_Anne_koeln_literaturhaus_181108.jpg


by Amanda Patterson

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Posted on: 11th October 2019
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