The Black Bird’s Ten Tips for Writing in Any Genre

If you like to drink and are still healthy, have a drink occasionally. Pleasantly. That means not being an angry drunk, except venting anger on the printed page.

Get out in the real world with REAL people (don’t watch reality TV), and experience. Take mental notes. Feel free to lampoon the superficial fakes.

Have plenty of sex, if it’s readily available and safe. With my wife in my case! It’s real, and as good fiction is in some way based upon reality, it belongs on the page. If you ignore it, there’s probably a deeper prob.

Write. A lot. Period. If you don’t like it burn it or delete it. It’s still brain exercise, and eventually you’ll produce something you feel worth keeping. Ray Bradbury told me and many others to write a story a week for a year. He didn’t mean it literally. He meant WRITE every week. A letter to a friend if you’ve got fiction block. An essay, a diatribe against the superficial wankers, perhaps?

If a work makes your own cut, publish it. Somewhere. Anywhere. Zine, mag, blog, site, album liner notes, an email to your best pals.

Don’t try to get an agent, don’t get an accountant except to do your yearly taxes. If money’s flowin’ in like a long piss after you’ve consumed a few too many ales, then worry ’bout an agent and an accountant. Till then it’s a waste.

Read. A lot. The only way to become a good writer is to first be a GREAT reader.

Question the reality portrayed in the media and propaganda spread by politically driven drivel. Hell, question “reality!”

Listen to music with thought provoking lyrics. It’s inspiring poetry!

Live life, love, have strong opinions and return to nature whenever things get too out of hand.

My amps always go to 11, so if all else fails, have another beer!