Heinlein's Rules

Robert Heinlein is recognized as one of the Holy Trinity of science fiction writers, alongside Arthur C. Clarke and Isaac Asimov. Myself, I've only read one of Heinlein's books, Starship Troopers. It's one of my favorites, but I've just never gotten around to reading anything else of his. I'm not sure why. I like science fiction, and Starship Troopers is a seminal work, but Heinlein's work has never been on my radar.

But he is known for giving the best and most valuable advice for aspiring professional writers, advice that was condensed into five rules that were first published in an obscure volume, 1947's Of Worlds Beyond. This was a book about how to write science fiction, with contributions from several big names of the day: E.E. "Doc" Smith, A.E. van Vogt, Jack Williamson, and John W. Campbell Jr. himself, the godfather of the 'men with screwdrivers' style of science fiction that came to dominate the pulps in the late 1930s through to the 1960s.

But the most important part of the entire book was contained in an essay Heinlein contributed to the collection, "On the Writing of Speculative Fiction." Some people consider these rules out of date, or just flat-out wrong. But for decades, writers who have followed those rules have had more success than those who did not.

So, the rules are simple enough:

1. You must write. Insanely obvious, and yet it shuts a lot of aspiring writers down; it's very easy to think about writing a book, but actually sitting down at the computer and doing it is something else. And a lot of people simply stop right there and just keep dreaming.

2. You must finish what you write. Again, obvious, but even more difficult to follow than the first rule. I myself have about seven unfinished things sitting on my hard drive, whether it's because I lost interest, or because the idea didn't work as well as I thought, or I just plain forgot about it. I'm going to get these finished at some point, the sooner the better. But finishing a book is a terrifying thing for a lot of people; it's easy to keep writing and adding to the book, but at some point you have to actually type 'The End' at the end. Not necessarily literally, but the book does have to finally be finished if you want to publish it.

3. You must not rewrite except to editorial demand. Harlan Ellison, the great science fiction writer, added a line to this rule: And then, only if  you agree. This is the most controversial of the rules, without question. There are those who swear that editors are absolutely crucial to the writing process. There are others, such as Dean Wesley Smith, who flat-out ignores editorial advice outside of typos and grammar corrections. To him, an editor's job is to proof-read, not mess with the writer's vision.

I've had some experience with that, in a non-professional capacity. Years ago when I was an 'aspiring' writer, I was part of a local writer's group. Basically, it was anywhere from eight to twenty people sitting around and reading bits of what they'd written, then accepting criticism and editorial advice before going home, redoing the piece, and never finishing it. I was working on a series of books, a fantasy series that may yet see the light of day. And it was a fantastic series. Not 'fantastic' as in Lord of the Rings-quality work, but fantastic in the literal sense, where incredible, imaginative things were happening. At the time, I planned to write these long epic stories in three stages: a one-page outline of the book, then a one-chapter-on-a-page skeleton, then fleshing it out to full chapters. I was on the second stage of this particular book, and I had a scene which took place underwater with a lot of crazy action. A few people in the group protested that it was unrealistic, and urged me to tone down the ridiculously outlandish elements. To my shame, I listened, and the story was diminished. I lost interest in it, and while I still remember the basic outline, I haven't even thought about writing it in years.

I'm not saying that an editor would do that kind of a hatchet job on a book, but the most important part of a book is the author's vision; if it doesn't feel like you wrote it, the audience will sense that, and something important will be lost.

4. You must send your work to publishers. Once the book is written, trust it and get it to the markets. Today, there's indie publishing through Amazon and others to make this step very easy, but not everyone wants to go that way; some people are chasing that big publishing contract. Well, you can have written the most magnificent sequel to Gone With the Wind or War and Peace, but if it just sits on your hard drive, you're not going to make any money for your hard work. But this is a terrifying step for a lot of people, one that can shatter them. But without it, there's no money to be made, and no audience to read it.

5. You must keep it on the market until it sells. If you get rejected by the first publisher, don't throw your work away in despair; send it to someone else. In indie terms, just keep it available for sale. I'll admit that my books aren't tearing up the sales charts, but I'm not taking them down unless it's to make a change of some sort (usually fixing typos that I or someone else finds). Eventually, the market will be there for them. For those who prefer the traditional model, keep sending it out. There are plenty of authors who were rejected by dozens or scores of publishers before someone finally bought the book and made insane money on it. Ever hear of The Hunt for Red October?

So, those are Heinlein's Rules in a nutshell. And, according to Heinlein (and Smith), every successful writer follows them. Why not join them?