The Writer's Toolbox© by Holly Lisle
All Rights Reserved
Every profession has its tools and requirements, and writing is
no different. Hardware and software are nice, but they won't make
you a writer. These four tools, used regularly and with the best
of what you have in you, will.
- English---If you cannot spell, if you don't know how
to punctuate a sentence, if you aren't sure about grammar, if
you don't recognize the appropriate place to break a paragraph
or remember how to set off dialogue from narrative, then stop
right here. You must know all of these things so well that you
don't have to think about them when you write. Your editor will
not correct your awful spelling or sloppy punctuation; she will
only reject your manuscript. Learn to use the written language
first.
- Persistence---I could also call this "thick skin." You'll
need it, whatever you choose to call it. You must accept that
some of your work will not be good enough to sell, that some editors
won't like your work even if it's good enough to sell, that things
you send out will come back rejected. You must strive to improve
constantly. You must realize that everything you write you could
have written better, if only you'd known how ... and then you
must, on your next venture, figure out that 'how.' No writer,
however good, is ever good enough.
- Faith---Conversely, you must believe that you have something
to say, and that you alone are the best person in the world to
say it. You must, on really lousy days, remember that you have
a dream you are trying to make come true. You must have faith
that what you want do do matters---that you are not just selling
books (for if your only dream is to sell things, then you can
sell shoes or TVs much more easily, and save a few trees in the
process), but that you are reaching out to people, and trying,
through your stories, to give them something they didn't have
before.
- Goals---You must set them now, and set them high. Along
with "write three pages a day" and "send off first story before
next month" and "get paid for something I write," add "make New
York Times bestseller list" and "win Hugo" and "change someone's
life for the better." Set small goals for your sanity ... but
large goals for your soul.
Ideas: A Hundred for A Dollar>>
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