Neil Gaiman's Advice to Writers

Although Stephen King's advice changed my life where my writing is concerned, one of my favorite writers on writing is, and will forever be, Neil Gaiman.

If you want to know why, watch this:

Some things Neil Gaiman says in the video:

"You have to finish things — that’s what you learn from, you learn by finishing things."

"Tell your story. Don’t try and tell the stories that other people can tell. Because [as a] starting writer, you always start out with other people’s voices — you’ve been reading other people for years… But, as quickly as you can, start telling the stories that only you can tell — because there will always be better writers than you, there will always be smarter writers than you … but you are the only you."

Those quotations, and the video, are from Neil Gaiman’s Advice to Aspiring Writers over at Brain Pickings.

(I've made a Neil Gaiman playlist; it can be viewed here. It contains all the videos, below, and a few others.)

Here are a few more videos featuring Neil Gaiman:

1. Neil Gaiman talks about his book The Ocean at the End of The Lane.

2. Neil Gaiman on AtGoogleTalks discussing his book The Ocean at the End of The Lane.

3. Neil Gaiman on the Late Late Show (10th anniversary of American Gods)

4. Neil Gaiman talks about what great art is.

Enjoy!

Photo credit: "WonderCon 2011 - Doctor Who panel with writer Neil Gaiman" by Pop Culture Geek
under Creative Commons Attribution 2.0.