10 Rules for Writing Fiction, part one, begins:
Never open a book with weather. If it’s only to create atmosphere, and not a charac ter’s reaction to the weather, you don’t want to go on too long.
There are compendiums of various authors’ 10 rules for writing. So this is more like 100 rules for writing.
10 Rules for Writing Fiction, part two, says:
Read Becoming a Writer, by Dorothea Brande. Then do what it says, including the tasks you think are impossible. You will particularly hate the advice to write first thing in the morning, but if you can manage it, it might well be the best thing you ever do for yourself. This book is about becoming a writer from the inside out. Many later advice manuals derive from it. You don’t really need any others, though if you want to boost your confidence, “how to” books seldom do any harm. You can kick-start a whole book with some little writing exercise.
There is other additional useful advice within this.
I think these are the sorts of things one should think about in a creative writing class.
