Robert's Rules of Writing, Second Edition

111 Unconventional Lessons That Every Writer Needs to Know

Robert Masello

• Publisher: Allworth
• Year: 2021
• Topic: Languages & Linguistics
• eBook ISBN:
  9781621537847
• Subtopic: Authorship
• Index: Languages & Linguistics

Bestselling author Robert Masello guides working and aspiring writers alike with the hard-won advice, tricks of the trade, and indispensable encouragement that only a seasoned professional can provide. Although there's no shortage of books on writing and publishing, there's none quite like Robert's Rules of Writing: 111 Unconventional Lessons Every Writer Needs to Know. Drawing on his many years of experience as an award-winning journalist, TV writer, and the author of over twenty books published by mainstream houses and translated, to date, into nineteen languages, Robert Masello addresses all the issues that confront, and all the problems that beset, writers of all stripes.Whether you're working on a novel or a script, a memoir or a blog, an epic poem or a newspaper piece, you're going to have to find the best way to express yourself clearly, persuasively, and entertainingly. You'll have to find your own personal voice (much harder than it sounds) and use that unique voice to convey your story, your thoughts, and your opinions, to the many readers out there that you're eager to reach; with complete candor and welcome irreverence, Robert's Rules of Writing offers the inside knowledge that will help you do just that. As provocative as they are amusing, these rules are purposely designed to challenge the old axioms and get you thinking afresh about your work.In well over a hundred short but pithy takes, Masello guides you over hurdles, around obstacles, and through the seemingly insurmountable barriers to completion and ultimately publication—hooray!—of your writing. It's a lively, thought-provoking, and often downright funny addition to any veteran, or fledgling, writer's shelf.

Table of contents

• Front Cover
• Title Page
• Copyright Page
• Contents
• Preface
• Rule 1. Burn Your Journal.
• Rule 2. Get a Pen Pal.
• Rule 3. Throw Out Your Thesaurus.
• Rule 4. Zip the Lip.
• Rule 5. Call Out the Thought Police.
• Rule 6. Don’t Overinflate the Balloon.
• Rule 7. Skip the Starbucks.
• Rule 8. Take the Zoloft.
• Rule 9. Lose the Muse.
• Rule 10. Get Rolling.
• Rule 11. Let the Well Refill.
• Rule 12. Tell, Don’t Show.
• Rule 13. Play God.
• Rule 14. Stop Reading.
• Rule 15. Don’t Get Trendy.
• Rule 16. Write What You Read.
• Rule 17. Make ’Em Worry.
• Rule 18. Memo Yourself.
• Rule 19. Take Liberties.
• Rule 20. Know the Territory.
• Rule 21. Settle Down.
• Rule 22. Pick Your Poison.
• Rule 23. Shut Out the Noise.
• Rule 24. Map That Route.
• Rule 25. Wing It.
• Rule 26. Don’t Look Back.
• Rule 27. Let It Marinate.
• Rule 28. Overcome Your Separation Anxiety.
• Rule 29. Call “Action!”
• Rule 30. Pile It On.
• Rule 31. Reduce Clutter.
• Rule 32. Offer an Appetizer.
• Rule 33. Don’t Tense Up.
• Rule 34. Plant Now, Harvest Later.
• Rule 35. Say What?
• Rule 36. Show What You Know.
• Rule 37. Make ’Em Care.
• Rule 38. Flaw Your Hero.
• Rule 39. Perfect Your Villain.
• Rule 40. Skip the Truth.
• Rule 41. Strip Down to Your Briefs.
• Rule 42. Go Subliminal.
• Rule 43. Cook Up a Story.
• Rule 44. Let Them Lead the Way.
• Rule 45. Make an Entrance.
• Rule 46. Do Double Duty.
• Rule 47. Be a Tease.
• Rule 48. Keep the Faith.
• Rule 49. Fly Solo.
• Rule 50. Go for Broke.
• Rule 51. Lay Down the Law.
• Rule 52. Keep Your Promises.
• Rule 53. Sweat the Small Stuff.
• Rule 54. Hit Your Marks.
• Rule 55. Don’t Push Your Luck.
• Rule 56. Take a Walk around the Block.
• Rule 57. Lose Your Form.
• Rule 58. Set an Alarm Clock.
• Rule 59. Fall in Love.
• Rule 60. Get Rejected.
• Rule 61. Indulge the Fantasy.
• Rule 62. Keep Your Day Job.
• Rule 63. Pick a Personage.
• Rule 64. Ham It Up.
• Rule 65. Know No Shame.
• Rule 66. Pass the Scuttlebutt.
• Rule 67. Come to Your Senses.
• Rule 68. Turn Up the Heat.
• Rule 69. Go Inside.
• Rule 70. De-claim! De-claim!
• Rule 71. Take the Long Way.
• Rule 72. Show No Mercy.
• Rule 73. Doubt Everyone.
• Rule 74. Find Your Ideal.
• Rule 75. Kill the Passion.
• Rule 76. Grumble and Fuss.
• Rule 77. Engage the Enemy.
• Rule 78. Mix It Up.
• Rule 79. Graph It.
• Rule 80. Join Up.
• Rule 81. Stake Your Claim.
• Rule 82. Get in Style.
• Rule 83. Change Your Spots.
• Rule 84. Tone It Up.
• Rule 85. Make ’Em Laugh!
• Rule 86. Befriend Your Editor.
• Rule 87. Choose Your Words.
• Rule 88. Choose Their Words, Too.
• Rule 89. Beware of Easy Inspiration.
• Rule 90. Add a Dash of Metaphor.
• Rule 91. Rid Yourself of Writing Words.
• Rule 92. Convert Yourself.
• Rule 93. Punctuate That Thought.
• Rule 94. Build the Perfect Reader.
• Rule 95. Don’t Believe Everything You Read!
• Rule 96. Pass the Scalpel.
• Rule 97. Gather Ye Moonbeams!
• Rule 98. Lose Your Perspective.
• Rule 99. Take Up Whittling.
• Rule 100. Save Every Scrap.
• Rule 101. Engage in No False Advertising.
• Rule 102. Keep Your Prose Clean.
• Rule 103. Don a Disguise.
• Rule 104. Protect Your Inspiration.
• Rule 105. Magnetize Yourself.
• Rule 106. Spill Your Secrets.
• Rule 107. Hit the Snooze Alarm.
• Rule 108. Call It Quits.
• Rule 109. Grant Yourself a Title.
• Rule 110. Love Words.
• Rule 111. Break the Rules.
• About the Author