Ten principles that I anchor my writing process to:
- ‘The more the marble wastes, the more the statue grows’.
- Back off. Let the reader do the creating. Give elbow room to the creative reader.
- Avoid adverbs and words ending in ‘ing’.
- Maniacal focus on fluency, clarity and narrative urgency.
- Focus on sparse detail so there can be a real feeling of it – sights and sounds, smells and colours.
- Readers deserve more than half-hearted opinions.
- Don’t join all the dots for the reader; let their mind move ahead after the text is finished.
- Use simple words to explain complex issues.
- Don’t be a prisoner of language – bully it to do want you want.
- Success isn’t found in writing, but rewriting.
