rules

Ten Rules for the Creative Sandbox

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10 Rules for the Creative Sandbox
1. There is no “wrong.”
Which also means there is no “right.” This is play, remember. The point is simply that you’re having fun. 2. Think process, not product.
In other words, It doesn’t matter if you like or hate the product; all that matters is that you’re having fun.
There’s time enough later for editing and crafting. Creative Sandbox time is all about letting your 4-year-old out, and 4-year-olds are much more interested in the experience of creating than in what they make.

How to Bust a Creative Block: Rules for the Creative Sandbox – Melissa Dinwiddie (undated)

Read the full piece for the other eight and rather a lot more.

Elmore Leonard’s other rules for writing

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So here’s the thing. Elmore Leonard wrote a lot of seemingly very visual novels but he’s somehow been really poorly served by the film and TV dramatisations of his work. Consequently I think he’s underrated but one thing that has made him a star with writers is his famous list of 10 Rules for us.

Here’s that list in the New York Times and if you don’t know it, it’s more interesting that what I’ve got for you now.

But if you do know it, take a look at this. This is a video of actor Timothy Olyphant – star of perhaps the best Leonard dramatisation, the series Justified – reading from the novel Swag. It’s a section about two criminals and includes Elmore Leonard’s rules for being criminals. I think it’s equal parts fascinating and revealing that there is so much crossover in his two lists of rules;

Hat tip to The Atlantic.