Writing tips from famous writers

There is a lot we authors can learn from those who have gone before us. The famous authors we all look up to made it happen, and often before they had to deal with their own marketing and social media stuff like we do now. All with a grain of salt, of course, but the advice of those who have succeeded in doing what we love to do-- write-- can be illuminating. I find it's most often as simple and straightforward as it is profound.

Here are a few of my favorite tips from famous authors:

• "Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next." - Ernest Hemingway

I love this one and I use it often. Stop while you have a storyline going so you have something to start writing about when you come back to it the next day, rather than keep writing until you are out of ideas and burn out. Six more tips from Ernest Hemingway here.

• "Do back exercises. Pain is distracting." - Margaret Atwood
  

Indeed. We often forget to take care of our bodies while we spend so much time in our heads. Ten more tips from Margaret Atwood here, including the classic "Take a pencil to write with on aeroplanes. Pens leak."

• "Write to please just one person. If you open a window and make love to the world, so to speak, your story will get pneumonia." - Kurt Vonnegut
  

This is a cool piece of advice that is a twist on the whole "target audience" idea. Vonnegut is telling us to write to an audience of one and make it exactly what pleases them (note: not "what one person wants). Seven more awesome tips from Kurt Vonnegut here.

• "Use short words, short sentences and short paragraphs." - David Ogilvy
  

Ogilvy is the famous ad writer, so his tips are geared toward business writing. But sometimes it helps to get advice from different genres. Nine more tips from David Ogilvy here.

Do you have any other writing tips or lists of tips you've found that could help as well?

Image courtesy of January Magazine post