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I remember reading an essay by Harlon

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Ellison in which he pointed to an essay

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by Robert Heinline.

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Um, and they suggested rules for writers

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and the rules were how to get published

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and I read them and I believed them and

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I have applied them and they have worked

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for me. Rule one, you have to write. If

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you don't write, nothing will happen.

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Rule two, you have to finish what you

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write. If you start it and abandon it or

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if you start it and never let it go.

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You know, I know people who just really

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want to make something perfect. So, they

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never finish. They never let it go. You

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have to finish.

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Rule three,

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having finished it, you have to send it

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out into the world to somebody who could

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publish it.

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these days of internet that actually

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broadens your scope. There are so many

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websites that actually want fiction,

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want things, but there are also

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publishers out there. There are agents.

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You send it out and that bit is

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important.

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I was talking earlier with Coraline

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about bravery.

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There are a lot of things that people

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know

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are brave. you know, standing up to an

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armed robber. Definitely brave.

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Um, wild dog attack,

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dealing with it. Absolute act of

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bravery.

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People don't normally list sending a

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story out into the world

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as one of those acts of bravery up there

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with standing up to armdrobers or or

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wild dog attacks, but really they really

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are. Next rule, Heinlines was

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refrain from rewriting except to

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editorial request.

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Having sent it out, don't just start it

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again. Don't keep writing that book,

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that story over and over again. Harlen

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Ellison

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added a little note on that. He said,

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"Unless

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you feel what the editor has requested

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would compromise the integrity of your

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story, in which case don't touch it.

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defend it. Also perfectly valid.

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The next rule is when it comes back

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because it will probably come back.

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You have to send it out again.

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You can't go, I sent it out to this

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editor, to this publisher, to this

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agent. It has come back. My heart is

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broken. I will never write it again. I

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will put it away. Instead, you have to

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send it out somewhere out there. There

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is somebody so drunk, so desperate, so

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confused that they will buy it and they

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will publish it. And so, you're trying

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to reach that person or perhaps somebody

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with good enough taste and somebody

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smart enough, whoever it is, keep going,

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keep sending it out until you reach that

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person. And the other rule which is

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mine, it wasn't Heinline's and it wasn't

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Harland's is and then start the next

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thing through this all start the next

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thing. When you finish

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that first thing and you start the

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process of sending it out, begin writing

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the next thing.

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Because that's the important thing

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is

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apart from anything else when that

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publisher comes to you and says, "We

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love this novel, but we'd love what's

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the sequel like?" You can say, "Yes,

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here is the sequel. I finished that,

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too." And get them even more excited.

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You need to be writing the next thing.

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You don't just write something and send

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it out and then wait for fame and

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fortune to come knocking on your door.

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You keep going. You keep writing. You

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keep finishing things. And now you have

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more things to send out into the world.

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Those were Heinline's rules. They were

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Haren Allison's rules. And I'm afraid

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they're mine, too. They work for me.

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as a writer. Um, two things are going on

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that and they're both going on at the

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same time. One of which is

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you are doing it. You are all of your

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characters.

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You are everything that they say. You

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are everything that happens. And the

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other is you're the first reader.

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And

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both of those things are true.

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When the magic is happening, when the

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wind is beneath your wings, when you're

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lifted up, all of a sudden it can

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absolutely feel like you simply are the

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first reader. You're the first person

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ever to be here. You can't get the words

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down fast enough. um because

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it's just there and all you're doing is

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describing something that is being put

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in front of you. You have it feels like

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almost no valition or perhaps no

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valition at all. And that's true

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and it's also true

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that it's you doing it and you must

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never forget that it's you doing it. You

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never really do. Um, and there will be

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bad days and there will be good days and

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the bad days will not feel like you are

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the magical first reader. The bad days

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will feel like you are

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a very tired brick layer who is building

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a wall across a very very long field and

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you're doing it brick by brick which is

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word by word and your process consists

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of going what is the next word

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inspecting all of the possible words

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that you can oh there's another word

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over here that fits It's a lot better.

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Okay, you put it in. It'll do. And just

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doing that again and again and knowing

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that if it's a novel, you are going to

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be doing that word by word a 100,000

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times.

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Um, and that you can also feel

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responsible for. But sometimes you're

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almost too close to it. You're not

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going, "Ah,

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I am taking full responsibility for

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everything this character says." You're

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just trying to go, "Oh my god, can you

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just say something that's interesting?

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Can you just say something?" Oh, I've

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done another one of those scenes where

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it's two people in a room telling each

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other things they know already. Oh, for

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God's sake. And that's part of the

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writing process. And it's okay. and your

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frustration with yourself and your

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frustration with the material. It's okay

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because

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the weird thing, the magical thing, the

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absolutely unpredictable and unexpected

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thing is

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when you get to the end of the thing,

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once you've done your edits, once you've

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polished it up a bit and you've handed

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it in to your editor at your publishing

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house,

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somewhere down the line,

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3 months later,

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They will send you a manuscript the

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galleys

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and your job is to copy edit them and to

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go through them

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and you'll be reading it and you will

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remember that some of the book was

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written on the days when putting every

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word in was like pulling teeth. It was

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painful. It was horrible. It was like

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writing through a migraine. And some of

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it was written on magical days when

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words dripped like diamonds from your

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fingers and sparkled in the light. And

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every word was given to you by the gods

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and was magical and sang.

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But there's no way to really tell the

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difference between them. It all sounds

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like you.

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And that is an incredibly

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humbling

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moment because frankly you think one of

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the two should be better but it really

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isn't. It's just the book you wrote.

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You are always going to be rejected as a

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writer. You're always going to be

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rejected and that's basically healthy.

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But I think the great thing about being

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a young writer is that on the one hand,

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you need the humility enough to know

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that you don't know yet. And on the

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other, you need an arrogance

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that is normally only seen in sort of

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seven-year-old boys. You need that

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conviction

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um that you are brilliant, that this is

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brilliant, that this is the greatest

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idea that anybody's ever had. And that

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by writing it, you will set the world on

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fire because

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that is the thing that is the engine

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that is going to get you through the

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stuff that actually needs to be written.

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Um you need to think you're brilliant.

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It's okay that you're not

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um it's like getting people people ask

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me how do you cope with rejection? How

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do you cope with writing a short story,

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writing a novel and giving it to

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somebody and having it rejected?

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And there are only two ways

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to do it. Uh, one of which is

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you go down,

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you get sad, you put the thing away, you

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stop writing, you go and get a real job,

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go and do something else. And the other

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is a kind of crazed

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attitude that actually

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the most important thing now is to write

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something so brilliant, so powerful, so

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good. Nobody could ever reject it. Um,

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my friend Joinski

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tells me the story of

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when he was a young writer, he'd come to

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Hollywood.

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He wanted to write. He wanted to sell

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stories. He wanted to sell scripts.

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Was writing stuff. Nobody was buying

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anything that he wrote.

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and he looked up Harlon Ellison,

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uh, wonderful writer. He found

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Harlland's number in the Los Angeles

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phone book because back then we had

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phone books.

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And he phoned Harlon and he said, "Hi,

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my name's Joe Strainski. I'm a writer. I

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can't sell anything. Uh, can you give me

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some advice?" And Harlem, being very,

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very blunt, as was always Harlem's way,

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said, "Okay, let me tell you, kid, the

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problem is what you're writing is crap.

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What you have to do is write really good

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stuff and then you'll sell it. Okay?"

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And he put the phone down. And what was

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lovely is that Joe actually took that

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and went, "Good. I got to get better.

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And I got to get so good that nobody can

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reject anything I write." and went on to

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become, you know, Oscar nominated Joe

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Strasinski. But rejection either way is

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healthy.

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If you are a young writer,

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if you and and by young again, I mean

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you're starting out, it's okay to get

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rejected.

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Um, the phrase not quite right for us

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is a really good one because it's true.

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If you give some, you write something

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and it's not quite right for somebody,

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that's what they'll say. It's okay. It's

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just rejection. The trick is go on,

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write the next thing. Write the next

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thing. Write the next thing.