Writing, like life, comes with a whole host of rules. And like life rules, writing rules are often no more than recommendations. My advice? Be yourself. Know the rules, use the ones that work for you, and discard the ones that don’t.

Best tip for writers: not to listen to any silly tips for writers. ~~Joyce Carol Oates

Some of the most famous writers of all time were big time rule breakers. James Joyce’s style was a stream of consciousness with complex symbolism that somehow resounded with readers. William Faulkner and Cormac McCarthy use only a handful of punctuation marks. Gillian Flynn writes unlikeable female protagonists.

It seems that these writers have done okay for themselves. To be honest, Flynn is the only one that I like.

One of my favorite pieces of advice comes from Elmore Leonard. I tend to have a short attention span in my reading, so I try to propel my writing along at a good clip. At the same time, I realize that there are people that enjoy a seven-page description of a vase. To each their own.

Try to leave out the parts that people tend to skip over. ~~Elmore Leonard

I am not a big fan of Anne Rice books but plenty of people are! Still, I do like her advice and take it to heart.

I don’t think there are any universal rules. I really don’t. We each make our own rules, and we stick to our rules, and we abide by them, but you know rules are made to be broken. … [If] any rule you hear from one writer doesn’t work for you, disregard it completely. Break it. Do what you want to do. I have my own rules that I follow, but they’re not necessarily going to work for other writers. … The only universal rule is to write. Get it done, and do what works for you. There’s nothing sadder than someone sitting there and trying to apply a lot of rules that are not turning that person on and are not stimulating and are not making a novel. ~~Anne Rice

One of my favorite dead writers is Ernest Hemingway but I don’t like the following piece of advice.

When I was writing, it was necessary for me to read after I had written. If you kept thinking about it, you would lose the thing you were writing before you could go on with it the next day. … I had learned already never to empty the well of my writing, but always to stop when there was still something there in the deep part of the well, and let it refill at night from the springs that fed it. ~~Ernest Hemingway

 I write until I’m done and then take a dog walk or lie sleepless in bed plotting out what is going to happen next. That way, when I sit down, I am ready to go again. What does Hemingway know?

Stephen King suggests that you should write every day and I firmly believe that to be true. Especially if the intention is to write a book. Everybody should be able to carve at least twenty minutes a day for writing. But again, there are people that like to write in spurts and gallops and then take a break.

What do I know?

Write. Write on.

About the Author

Matt Cost was a history major at Trinity College. He owned a mystery bookstore, a video store, and a gym, before serving a ten-year sentence as a junior high school teacher. In 2014 he was released and began writing. And that’s what he does. He writes histories and mysteries.

Cost has published six books in the Mainely Mystery series, starting with Mainely Power. He has also published six books in the Clay Wolfe Trap series, starting with Wolfe Trap. There are two books in the Brooklyn 8 Ballo series, starting with Velma Gone Awry. For historical novels, Cost has published At Every Hazard and its sequel, Love in a Time of Hate, as well as I am Cuba. The Not So Merry Adventures of Max Creed began a new series this past April. Glow Trap is his eighteenth published book.

Cost now lives in Brunswick, Maine, with his wife, Harper. There are four grown children: Brittany, Pearson, Miranda, and Ryan. They have been replaced in the home with four dogs. Cost now spends his days at the computer, writing.