Goodreads asked Joel Whitney:

What’s your advice for aspiring writers?

Joel Whitney "Anyone who tells you there’s only one way to write is wrong," said Mahsuda Snaith in a recent Observer interview. I agree. I've noticed a few things that work for me, though, and may work for others. I like to read history, because it's filled with showdowns and shootouts, collaborations, conflicts, struggles and conspiracies, events which may only be remembered as a blurred vision or may be altogether forgotten or distorted. I like to read poetry to hear how to make each sound count. I take walks, so my reading gains a pulse. We must believe our editors, but if there's something we can't stand to lose, we should fight for it. We ought not to dumb it down, but while clarity makes us feel naked and naked writing is intimate, all armor eventually rusts, and masks crumble. If it's true we must kill our darlings, we must also use their bodies to fertilize new work. We ought not to chicken out of our commitments, whether aesthetic or social or other. Sometimes a big idea needs a bigger commitment in form or time or both. I like to write letters; I think that letters (especially letters of praise) are the most intimate kind of writing.

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