Writing

Letter Writing
Ever wondered how the practice of writing letters came
into being? Letters were one of the earliest forms of passing
communication across to family and friends, and it has
continued to exist since then. Letter writing is no mere
ornamental accomplishment. Even today, letter writing has been
thought of as a necessary skill that every individual should
acquire.

Before the advent of modern technology made communication

so easy, the art of writing a letter was considered an
important requirement.

Today, a printed letter is usually reserved for important

professional communications, such as recommendation letters,
job cover letters, resignation letters, legal correspondence,
and company communications. Since a letter is a formal mode of
communication, you’ll want to know how to write one that is
professional.

Everyone should know how to write a letter, whether a

business inquiry, email, personal letter, or letter-format
social media post. Letter writing is a useful skill, not only
for communicating clearly, but also for making a good
impression—especially a first impression.
Letter Writing:
A letter is a written message that can be handwritten or
printed on paper. It is usually sent to the recipient via mail
or post in an envelope, although this is not a requirement as
such. Any such message that is transferred via post is a
letter, a written conversation between two parties.

Now that E-mails (Advantages and disadvantages) and texts

and other such forms have become the norm for communication,
the art of letter writing has taken a backseat. However, even
today a lot of our communication, especially the formal kind,
is done via letters. Whether it is a cover letter for a job,
or the bank sending you a reminder or a college acceptance
letter, letters are still an important mode of communication.
Which is why it is important that we know the intricacies of
letter writing.

Letter writing is an essential skill. Despite the

prevalence of emails and text messages, everyone has to write
letters at some point. Letters of complaint, job applications,
thank you letters, letters requesting changes or making
suggestions — the list goes on and on. Encouraging children to
write letters from an early age will improve their
communication, social and handwriting skills, and teach them
what they need to know about writing and structuring letters.

Within schools:
Letter writing can be included in a school’s curriculum.
Visits to museums or farms prompt thank you letters, for
example contacting schools in other countries and exchanging
letters links into geography. Writing imaginary letters to
historical people can encourage understanding of a historical
period or topic. Writing letters encourages good social
skills, learning to say thank you and asking for information
politely.

At home:
Letter writing has many purposes, including the
following:

- It encourages good manners, especially writing

‘thank you’ letters
- Children can write invitations
- Children can write letters to friends and
relatives
- Pen pals are always popular, giving insights into
other children’s lives, especially overseas

It’s tempting to think that, in this

technological age, there isn’t much call for letter-
writing skills. However, being able to write, format
and send formal letters is still an essential skill.
There are several situations when writing a long-form
letter is the most appropriate method of
communication. It’s important children learn the
necessary skills early so that, when the moment
comes, they’re able to react and write effectively.

Though communicating via email, social media, or

instant message is quick and convenient, for official
communication, it’s often a good idea to write a
formal letter. It can make the recipient take you
more seriously. It also shows you’ve put time and
thought into communicating: that you genuinely care
about the person you’re writing to and believe in
what you’re saying.

Types of Letters:

Let us first understand that there are broadly two types

of letter, namely Formal Letters, and Informal Letters. But
then there are also a few types of letters based on their
contents, formalities, the purpose of letter writing etc. Let
us have a look at the few types of letters.

Formal Letter:
These letters follow a certain pattern and formality.
They are strictly kept professional in nature, and directly
address the issues concerned. Any type of business letter or
letter to authorities falls within this given category.

Formal letters—like cover letters, business inquiries,

and urgent notifications— are some of the most important
letters you’ll ever have to write. Because they’re sometimes
used as official documents, formal letters have a very precise
structure and particular format. In fact, there are a few
different “correct formats” to choose from.

The language used in formal letters is a lot more

professional than informal letters.

FORMAL LETTER FEATURES:

USED FOR PROFESSIONAL COMMUNICATION THESE DOCUMENTS

FOLLOW A PRESCRIBED FORMAT. THEY ARE WRITTEN IN A PASSIVE
VOICE FOR A SPECIFIC PURPOSE AND IN MANY CASES ARE LEGALLY
BINDING. SOME EXAMPLES ARE.
INVITATION:

Make someone feel special about an upcoming event.

It is a letter written to invite people to a particular event.

This can be written for a marriage, engagement, graduation
ceremony, exhibition, annual day, etc. It can be a formal as
well as an informal letter. It can be written by an individual
or an organization addressed to a person or an organization.

APPLICATION:

An application letter, also known as a cover letter, is

sent with your resume during the job application process. An
application letter adds a personal touch to your application
by providing more details about your background and interest
in the position, while a resume focuses on your professional
skills and experience.

REFEREE / REFERENCE:

Vouch for another’s skills, personality or credibility.

A reference letter is a positive endorsement of a

person’s skills and attributes, written by someone familiar
with their work, character, and accomplishments. Reference
letters are needed when applying for jobs, internships,
volunteer positions, colleges, and graduate school programs.

ACCEPTANCE & REJECTION:

Approve or deny an applicant in a professional manner.

A letter of acceptance is one of the last steps in the

job search process and is important as it confirms your
acceptance of a job role with an employer, including crucial
terms of employment. Writing a professional acceptance letter
is an important step in beginning your career with a new
company. If you’ve received a job offer, understanding how to
write your response can help you be confident when accepting
the offer.

MAKE AN OFFER:

Make a formal and binding offer in writing.

A job offer letter is a formal document sent to

candidates selected for employment. It’s a good idea to have
written confirmation of an offer so that both the employee and
the employer are clear on the conditions of a job.

EXIT / RESIGNATION:

Formally leave or step down in a professional and

dignified manner.

A resignation letter is a document that notifies your

employer that you are leaving your job. It formalizes your
departure from your current employment, and can be written as
a printed letter or an email message.

Note on Salutations

If the student knows the intended recipient’s name, start

with Dear Mr. / Mrs Surname and end with Yours Sincerely. If
they don’t know the recipient’s name, start with Dear Sir /
Madam and end with Yours Faithfully.

Use of Rhetorical Devices

As mentioned, formal letter writing focuses on attempting

to convince someone to take some course of action or other. To
do this it is helpful to employ some rhetorical devices to
make the writing more persuasive. Some useful techniques to
encourage your students to employ include:

Direct Address:

Using the pronoun ‘you’ in a formal letter makes the

reader feel that you are speaking directly to them.

Emotive Language:

Where students are trying to convince the reader to take

a course of action, the use of emotive language can often be a
powerful tool. Students can use either positive or negative
colored words to create the desired response in the reader.

Facts and Figures:

Another way to persuade and convince is to employ facts

and figures to support the points made in the letter.

- When writing formal letters, you need to make sure you

have your address and the address of the person you're writing
to in the right places. Your address should go in the top-
right corner of the page. Leave a line and then, underneath
your address, write the date.

Informal Letter:
These are personal letters. They need not follow any set
pattern or adhere to any formalities. They contain personal
information or are a written conversation. Informal letters
are generally written to friends, acquaintances, relatives
etc.

Letters to friends and family can be written in a

conversational style. They are just a composition of
spontaneous thoughts, and they are easy and personal. When
writing an informal letter, you are free to use colloquial
language, which would be quite out of place in a formal
letter. This does not mean that you can pen down random
thoughts that are totally disconnected and make no sense.
Wrong spelling, punctuation and grammar are not allowed even
though the letter is informal and personal.

An informal letter can be written by following a basic

format that includes the sender’s address, date, greeting,
body of the letter, subscription and signature.
Business Letter:

This letter is written among business correspondents,

generally contains commercial information such as quotations,
orders, complaints, claims, letters for collections etc. Such
letters are always strictly formal and follow a structure and
pattern of formalities.

A business letter is a formal document often sent from

one company to another or from a company to its clients,
employees, and stakeholders, for example. Business letters are
used for professional correspondence between individuals, as
well.

Official Letter:

This type of letter is written to inform offices,

branches, subordinates of official information. It usually
relays official information like rules, regulations,
procedures, events, or any other such information. Official
letters are also formal in nature and follow certain structure
and decorum.

Social Letter:

A personal letter written on the occasion of a special

event is known as a social letter. Congratulatory letter,
condolence letter, invitation letter are all social letters.
A social letter lets the recipient know that he or she is
valued and appreciated.
Circular Letter:

A letter that announces information to a large number of

people is a circular letter. The same letter is circulated to
a large group of people to correspond some important
information like a change of address, change in management,
the retirement of a partner.

Employment Letters:

Any letters with respect to the employment process, like

joining letter, promotion letter, application letter.

Professionals use letters of employment to verify their

source of income when completing rental, career and loan
applications. Often, human resource employees and management
professionals write these letters, but in some cases, an
employee might write their own letter.
 HOW TO WRITE AN INFORMAL LETTER
THE WRITING PROCESS BEGINS WITH PLANNING:

As with all genres of writing, the process of formal

letter writing should start with planning. This should involve
sketching a brief outline from which to work rather than a
comprehensive detailing of minutiae. The plan should include:

 Note addresses, names – who are you writing?

 Record purpose of the letter – what do you want to say?
 List points to be made (each will form a paragraph) –
how will you say it?
  State action point – what do you want the reader to do?

Informal letters will start with a greeting appropriate

to how close the relationship is. For acquaintances, this may
be ‘Dear Tom,’ (using the first name instead of the surname)
to a very informal ‘Hi Jane,’. Don’t forget the comma after
the name!

After the greeting, a general opening sentence should

follow. Usually, this will be something along the lines of a
‘How are you?’ or a ‘How have you been?’. If the recipient is
married or has kids, you may wish to ask how their spouse or
children are.
 Next, students should state the reason for writing. The
language should be open and friendly in tone and, in contrast
to the formal letter, colloquial language, idiomatic
expressions, and contractions are perfectly okay and even
desirable.

Just as the opening salutation to an informal letter is

much more relaxed, so too will the closing salutation. There
are a multitude of possibilities for the students to choose
here and their decision will depend on who they are writing to
and their own personal preferences. Some examples of possible
closings include, ‘Love’, ‘Best regards’, ‘All the best’, and
‘Thanks’.

What’s so special about receiving a handwritten

letter?
Quite apart from curriculum requirements, being asked to
write letters is a task that will appeal to children. The
sheer fun of sending and receiving letters appeals to every
child. There is something special about putting letters into
the post box and then having letters delivered by the postman…
the brightly colored stamps, seeing your name on the envelope
and knowing that inside is a long awaited letter from a friend
or member of the family. It shows someone cares and has taken
the time to sit down and think about you.

Handwritten letters have a charm of their own. You can

take time to think about what you want to say. You can keep
letters to read again and again. You can admire the
handwriting; share dreams and thoughts. Responding by letter
is very different to the immediacy of a text message or an
email

The Art of Letter Writing: 5 Tips for

Crafting Engaging Letters
In the modern age, writing letters has become underrated,
if not completely abandoned. We prefer sending quick e-mails
to our loved ones now, or even shoot them a long text because
of time concerns. We might forget how much of a personal
impact a unique letter can have on our families and friends.
Nowadays, we focus so much on technology that we often fail to
add that special, intimate touch to the relationships we
value.

If that looks like you, I don’t blame you. There is no

doubt: writing can be quite a challenge! Writing a letter can
be even more demanding. We want to connect our thoughts and
feelings to the letter that we are sending, yet we sometimes
omit details that could bring us into the open and deepen our
engagement. The content has to be special, and the person
reading it has to sense a distinctive vibe when opening it —
it’s like creating a special bond between the writer and the
recipient; a bond that connects their souls, and opens up
their minds.
 For all of these reasons, finding the perfect balance of
creativity and imagination is not an easy job.

Here are a 5 tips on how to write

inspiring, creative letters:

BE YOURSELF:
Writing letters is easy once you get the hang of it. I
must specify that we are strictly referring to informal,
friendly letters. Being yourself is your best strategy if you
want your letter be special. The content has to flow
naturally. Letters between friends have to be simple, yet
complex. Writing something like “Dear Mona, I hope you have a
great Thanksgiving Day. Love, Lila” is not enough. You have to
develop your thoughts, and let your ideas flow on that piece
of paper and have room to expand. This takes me to point two.

Is there anything you want to always remember? Why would

you write a letter to your future self? Does it seem silly and
childish?

Writing a letter to yourself gives you insight and

teaches you valuable life lessons that will stick with you
long afterwards. Think of it as a time capsule. 1) Cultivate
gratitude. One of the best things for your emotional health is
to practice gratitude regularly.

CREATE THE PERFECT SETTING:

Because writing letters is such a personal process, you
need your own space. Make sure you have alone time whenever
you compose your letters, and take time to think about the
content first. Get rid of the distractions, and imagine what a
perfect letter would look like for you.
 Would it begin in a certain, exceptional way? What
pieces of your imagination would it compile? What elements
could add to its complexity?

Try not to check your phone or have the TV on while you

are drafting the letters. Find a particular spot in the house
that is quiet and encourages you to think. Reflect on special
moments you had with the recipient, and expand on that.
Beginning the letter with a significant memory will give it
that special vibe you want.

ASK ABOUT THEM IN A FUNNY WAY

If you write a letter to somebody, you probably want to
know more about them. So ask away! Make sure you do not expand
too much on yourself.

Do include everything you wish, but keep it brief since

your recipient will probably not appreciate receiving letters
that are too long. When you ask about them, do it in a funny,
creative way. Be hilarious and relaxed.

Take a look at some examples:

I. Begin with an old phrase both of you used in the

past. If I wrote to my friend, I would say, “Sup,
loser? I miss your dumb face! What have you been up
to?”
II. Start with a funny saying like, “Love is in the air.
Nope, that’s bacon. Anyways, I was thinking of you
this morning while eating my breakfast. How is your
life?”
 III. Or you can just be honest and say, “I am feeling
very emotional today, so I thought about you. Don’t
feel too good about it, OK? How are you doing, pal?”
IV. Make sure you let them know how much you miss them,
but don’t do it in a mushy way if you are not that
type of person. Saying it in a funny context gives
it a sense of playfulness, which I am sure will be
highly appreciated by your friend.

CARRY A NOTEBOOK WITH YOU:

If you truly lack ideas, carry a notebook with you and
write down observations. Maybe when you are having a coffee,
you will think of a funny moment you had with your friend.
Maybe when you chat with your colleagues you will realize how
much you miss a special, deep conversation with your friend.
You never know what gives your ideas during the day, so
carrying a notebook is a great method to stay creative.

HAVE LOTS OF FUN:

If you don’t write like you are having fun, there is no
point in searching for creativity. Writing letters is not
something that must be done, but something that you should
enjoy doing.

Change your mindset, and play with the words instead of

searching for the right ones. If a letter does not come out as
you want it to, do not freak out.

All writers have good and bad moments, so you do not have
to worry about it at all. Just take a break if you feel the
need to, and do something funny – like watch a comedy on
Netflix, or play with your pets if you have any.
 The idea is to loosen up and make yourself laugh. Then
when you can get back to writing you will be much more
productive

Concerns in Creative Writing for Language

Teaching and Learning

Creative writing is any writing that goes outside the

bounds of normal professional, journalistic, academic, or
technical forms of literature, typically identified by an
emphasis on narrative craft, character development, and the
use of literary tropes or with various traditions of poetry
and poetics.

Truthfully, creative writing is one of the most

misunderstood disciplines in the 21st century. When people
think of a creative writing course, they often imagine a group
of lofty, out-of-touch people who wear argyle sweater vests
and have unproductive conversations about abstract concepts.

In reality, nothing could be further from the truth:

the best writing classes remain engaged with the real world,
and the skills gained in a creative writing course apply to
nearly every facet of daily life.

The benefits of creative writing come from engaging with

the course material, the writing prompts, and the other class
members. These elements help you become a better writer, both
in creative realms and in everyday life. How? No matter what
form of writing, a creative writing class pushes you to
connect ideas and create effective narratives using the best
words – and that skill translates into real world success.

Every day kids experience events that are new to them.

They learn new words, which helps build their vocabulary. In
doing so, these new experiences help them to develop a
creative and curious mind. These new experiences could be the
beginning of ideas which the child could develop into stories
or creative writing. By encouraging them to write from a young
age, numerous benefits can be seen.

When a child begins to write their ideas down, completing

the story develops a range of important life long skills.
Using writing as a way for your child to demonstrate their
creative side helps their ability to focus, improves their
dedication and commitment. These are all skills which
employers look for in a candidate. Creative writing also
develops creative thoughts, using their imaginations, suggest
alternatives, broaden their though process and problem-solving
abilities. It also allows the child to show their opinions and
develop their voice. It also improves their logical skills.

These skills, once developed, can help the child in other

subjects, such as Maths, Science and Languages. By developing
these fundamental skills, the child can apply these in other
areas of learning and succeed, helping to strengthen their
self-confidence.

Inspiring your child to be creative develops a wide range

of skills while building confidence. This helps them to
develop into powerful adults, who can communicate their points
of view, thoughts and feelings very clearly. Creative writing
has the opportunity to create an incredible positive impact on
our children, and while the occasion is becoming more limited
in the classroom, taking steps to encourage our children to
write can help develop a range of benefits. By finding their
way of writing, the children can turn it into a superpower,
allowing the child to be creative while having fun and doing
something they enjoy.

What are the Concerns in creative writing for

language teaching and learning?

Creative writing is expressed in an imaginative, unique,

and sometimes poetic way. The term creative writing suggests
imaginative tasks, such as writing poetry, stories and plays.”
So it represents teaching writing of all genre of literature
such as drama, fiction, poetry, personal narration, story and
so on.

Some people believe there is something new or untested

about the discipline of creative writing”. Teaching creative
writing is a very challenging job to the teachers even though
they have lots of knowledge about subject matter. It is
because of developed form or genre of language which expresses
ideas, information and thoughts by graphic representation.

There are so many issues and challenges of teaching

creative writing like critical analysis, formation and
structure, wider area, individual variation, untrained English
teachers, insufficient time for instruction, lack of resources
and materials.

The kind of writing we ask students to do (and the way

they we ask them to do it) will depend, as most other things
do, on their age, level, learning styles, and interests”

Different Genre/forms of literature:

There are various branches or forms of literature which

is called genre. “A genre is a type of writing which members
of a discourse community would instantly recognize for what it
was. Thus we recognize a small ad in a newspaper the moment we
see it because, being members of a particular group, or
community, we have seen many such texts before and are
familiar with the way they are constructed”

These genres have their own rules, regulations, norms, values,

principles, theories, structural patterns, features, types,
formations and so on.

 The teachers have to build creative writing. For this

they have to engage the students with creative writing
 activities which are easy and interesting to take part
in, so it helps students to achieve the success in their
writing. When students have gained sufficient knowledge
of creative writing they can develop writing habit.
Therefore the teacher should have the knowledge to teach
different genres to make his/her students able to write
creative writing.

Individual difference:

Different individual may produce equally good results

through widely different process. This means that there is
probably no one ‘right’ system of writing that we should
recommend; rather, we should suggest available various
possible strategies, encouraging individuals to experiment and
search for one that is personally effective.

Lack of Motivation:

Motivation is commonly thought of as an inner drive,

impulse, emotion or desire that moves one to a particular
action. It is the main determinants of teaching creative
writing. “It is easier and more useful to think in terms of
the ‘motivated’ learner: one who is willing or even eager to
invest effort in learning activities and progress”.

This means that the more you motivate the students the
more students are motivated and get ready for creative writing
so it helps the teachers to teach creative writing
effectively.

Motivation promotes students’ active participation, so it

helps the students to give uniqueness in learning, background
for creative writing, and process of creative writing.
Motivation helps teachers to provide ability to the students
and make learners write creative writing.

So we can say that motivation aids the students to achieve

success in their creative writing attempts.

Untrained English teachers:

The untrained teacher cannot teach the process of

different genre of literature as equal as trained teacher.
S/he lacks proper knowledge and will not be able to provide
good ideas to write creatively and use different strategies
and techniques to involve the students in creative writing.

For example there are various ways of teaching poem like,

acrostic poem (a poem where certain letters in each letters
spells out a word or phrase), opposites poem (a poem where two
opposite things can exist side by side in a person or
situation), group poem (a poem written in a group where at
least a line will be contributed by one person of a group) and
so on.

Insufficient time for instruction:

Teachers and students have limited time for their

teaching and learning process in given time framework of
institutions. Both students and teachers are inhibited by
time, so creative writing is compelled to be taught only for
the completion of the lessons.

As a result, all the composition lessons are given to the

students as homework and another aspect to the students’
difficulties is the perception that taking much time to write
a composition is a sign of failure on their part.
Unfortunately, students and teachers apparently fail to
utilize the opportunity to process writing to fulfill their
tasks satisfactorily. “The lack of the use of time to develop
students’ creative writing skills led problems in teaching
creative writing”.

Focus on Surface Errors:

Teachers are habituated to assess the students’ writing

on surface errors by their profession. They give feedback to
the students regarding spelling, punctuation instead of
students’ creativity which doesn’t help to improve students’
creative writing ability.

As the main focus is on structure as opposed to content

or meaning, the students’ compositions will be meaningless and
valueless. So intentionally or not, unsatisfactory message
goes to the students, which indicates their lack of grammar,
structure, punctuation rather than main issues or students’
intention of creative writing.

This means that Their intention, their creativity, their

ideas and their effort goes unnoticed as teachers mostly focus
on the surface errors and fail to acknowledge the hard work
the students have attempted.

It makes students hesitate and frustrated in themselves

in their writing because of spelling, surface error, and
punctuation marker. Certainly, there is more to composition
writing than the mere issues of spelling and punctuation. Thus
it indicates that it is not easy to teach creative writing to
the students.

Writing Process:
 Writing process is also an issue in teaching creative
writing. Some of the learner differences are because of their
age, practice, motivation, cultural background, particular
group etc. These create challenge to teach writing process to
the students.

When students are writing for writing, we will want to

involve them in the process of writing.

In the real world; this typically involves planning what

we are going to write, drafting it, reviewing and editing what
we have written and then producing a final version.

We will need to encourage students to plan, draft and edit for

teaching creative writing so it is very challenging task for
the teachers.

Prevention of issues and challenges of teaching

creative writing
In order to prevent these issues and challenges, I have
discussed some prevention and solutions in detail.
Assessing creative writing:

Assessing creative writing helps students know their

position and about their creativity through writing. So the
teacher should evaluate creative writing by using the same
criteria as for different genre.

Creative writing is judged mostly by literary criteria, and

these criteria may fit the critical mind but are not always
sympathetic to emotional and personal matters.

They should give more emphasis on the importance of original

creative writing and evaluate to give appropriate grade by
feeling, imagining and involving as like as a real writer of
creative writing.

Effective Instruments:

Students must have access to high quality instruction

designed to help them meet high expectations regarding
creative writing.

- So the teachers should employ different strategies such

as motivating; providing opportunities to write creative
writing, providing concepts and teaching them to write
creatively and employ those concepts; providing
imaginative thinking and writing that connects their
writing across different genre of literature and
providing individual guidance, assistance, and support to
fill gaps in background knowledge of creative writing.

Clinical Teaching:
 Clinical teaching takes place in the context of patient
care. It is an intensely personal relationship between
students and teacher so it is carefully sequenced.

First teachers must teach skills, subjects, concepts and

process of creative writing; then they re-teach different
strategies or approaches to the students to involve them in
creative writing such as poetry, story, and drama to those who
fail to meet expected performance level of creative writing
after initial instruction; finally, they evaluate and provide
feedback of creative writing to the students.

 Teachers should conduct creative writing assessment

to monitor the students’ progress and instruct them
to modify their writing if necessary.
 Teacher should deal with anxiety, challenges to
authority, and lead stimulating discussions and
labs.
 To teach effectively, the teacher should respond
appropriately to shy, withdrawn, or disruptive
students and use technology more and more for
clinical teaching effectively.

Creative writing exercise:

-Teachers should offer some well-tried classroom

activities that may motivate students to want to write in
English. It proves, ‘practice makes a man perfect’.

Likewise doing some creative writing exercises during the

class and in leisure can help the students’ to write
creatively.

If the teacher asks the students’ to write lots of creative

writing exercises, it can give support their creative writing
and generate in them creative ideas. So the very best method
to teach creative writing is by providing creative exercises
to the students.

There are different types of teaching writing;

guided writing, parallel writing and free writing that will
help students to produce appropriate texts even with fairly
limited English.

However, as their language level improves, we need

to make sure that their creative writing begins to express
their own creativity through different genre of literature.

Teaching creative writing is very challenging

task to the language teachers because of lack of time,
motivation, lack of training and building the writing habit as
well as creative writing involves various genre of literature
such as drama, fiction, poetry, personal narration, story and
so on.

So it is very difficult to teach creative writing

to the students.

The main problems in teaching creative writing are

different genre/forms of literature, individual difference,
lack of motivation, untrained English teacher, insufficient
time for instruction, focus on surface errors, writing process
and to prevent these issues and challenges of teaching
creative writing We can employ assessing creative writing,
effective instruments, clinical teaching, creative writing
exercise, instant writing, collaborative writing, writing in
other genre, using music and pictures and so on.

Talent is cheaper than table salt. What

separates the talented individual from the
successful one is a lot of hard work.

Good writing is remembering detail. Most people

want to forget. Don’t forget things that were painful
or embarrassing or silly. Turn them into a story that
tells the truth.

“You have to follow your own voice. You have to be

yourself when you write. In effect, you have to
announce, ‘This is me, this is what I stand for, this
is what you get when you read me. I’m doing the best
I can—buy me or not—but this is who I am as a
writer.”