Tatler delves into the three important writing advice that celebrated authors follow and swear by
You might wonder how the authors we consider masters of literature today reached the pinnacle of their careers. Most, if not all, emphasise certain points when asked how they were able to produce bodies of work that readers are enthralled by and enjoy to this day, be it for leisure, research and the like. This is because the advice they often give out has helped not only them but the writers that came before.
Tatler explains three helpful tips that are often mentioned and valued by celebrated writers:
1. Write and rewrite
Writers must constantly search for the right words to tell a story. Even authors like English writer Nick Hornby says in The Polysyllabic Spree: "Anyone and everyone taking a writing class knows that the secret of good writing is to cut it back, pare it down, winnow, chop, hack, prune, and trim, remove every superfluous word, compress, compress, compress".
This might be why Filipino poet and literary critic Gemino Abad always has a dictionary nearby, he once mentioned in a poetry writing class. He is known to flesh out the meanings of words to fully understand their essence. This way, you get to write sentences that reveal the story's true character.
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As American literary critic Dorothy Parker puts it: "I would write a book or a short story, at least three times—once to understand it, the second time to improve the prose, and a third to compel it to say what it still must say".
