MemeMachineGo!

James D. MacDonald has been posting a detailed writing tutorial. Here’s one bit I liked :

I also give you permission to write badly. So long as your fingers are moving on the keys, you can write utter tripe. It’s okay. You’re going to revise it anyway, right?

What I don’t give you permission to do is not write. When the Muse comes to your house, she expects to find you sitting in your chair in front of your typewriter. If you aren’t there, she’ll just go on to the next author on her list, rather than go looking for you.

Make time, every day, and during that time be at your keyboard. There is no substitute for the BIC (Butt In Chair) method.

and another :

In writing, you can do absolutely anything if it works.

The “if it works” part is the tough bit. Try, read it carefully, be honest with yourself. Get the reactions from your first readers.

Think of your novel as a video game. Every time you try something, if it works, you get some number of points. If it doesn’t work, you lose that same number of points. The fancier and more difficult the thing you try, the more points associated with it.

You’ll start the game with a certain number of points. How many depends on the reader — if he’s read and enjoyed a previous work by you, you’ll get more points than if he’s never heard of you before. If you’re writing in a genre he likes, you’ll get more points than if you aren’t exactly what he was looking for, but he was bored and there you were.

You’ve got some points, though, or the cover never gets opened.

Now you start adding and subtracting points for “things that work.”

If your score ever goes down to zero, it’s Bzzzzt! Game over! and the reader throws the book across the room (or, more demurely, puts it down and doesn’t pick it back up).

You can read it yourself for much more good stuff.