Roundup: Writing advice, tips, and lists

As we look forward to updating the Ploughshares blog for the new year, we’re also looking back at all the great posts since the blog started in 2009.  Our roundups explore the archives and gather past posts around a certain theme to help you jump-start your week.  This week we have posts on with writing advice, tips, and lists.

Last week we saw someone tweet this collection of writing rules from famous writers.  We loved the lists of rules so much, this week we gathered posts that contain writing advice and tips (some in list form).

• Greg Shutz explains why craft can be counter-productive and plot can be selective in his “Notes from my Dashboard.”

• How, exactly, do you become a writer?  Eric Weinstein tells us the things he wishes he’d known when he set out to be a poet.

• Jamie Quatro lists five things her third-grader taught her about writing.

• Have you ever tried taking down dialogue verbatim?  Thomas Lee has, and he explains why it doesn’t work in “The Way We Talk.”

• Speaking of dialogue, Megan Mayhew Bergman discusses “Trying to Write the Southern Accent.”

• And while we’re on the subject, here’s a post by Carol Keeley on the difference between writing and speaking.

• Last, but not least, Thomas Lee interviews Tom Parker about his writing tips and tricks.

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