Six Things Neil Gaiman Teaches Us About Writing

Neil Gaiman, the author of works you may know such as Coraline (2002), Good Omens (1990), and American Gods (2001) has crossed genres and inspired generation after generation of writers and authors alike and continues to do so. 

He is also one of the most approachable authors to date as he connects easily with writers and fans through his social media, good reads page, and most popularly Tumblr. 

Gaiman has said many things about writing and has given countless amounts of advice to writers so narrowing it down to only a few was a difficult task, but these are the ones that sum up all the rest. 

Make Mistakes 

"I hope that in this year to come, you make mistakes.

Because if you are making mistakes, then you are making new things, trying new things, learning, living, pushing yourself, changing yourself, changing your world. You're doing things you've never done before, and more importantly, you're Doing Something.

So that's my wish for you, and all of us, and my wish for myself. Make New Mistakes. Make glorious, amazing mistakes. Make mistakes nobody's ever made before. Don't freeze, don't stop, don't worry that it isn't good enough, or it isn't perfect, whatever it is: art, or love, or work or family or life.

Whatever it is you're scared of doing, Do it.

Make your mistakes, next year and forever."

― Neil Gaiman

Just Write 

"This is how you do it: you sit down at the keyboard and you put one word after another until its done. It's that easy, and that hard."

― Neil Gaiman

Stop Chasing Perfection 

"Fix it. Remember that, sooner or later, before it ever reaches perfection, you will have to let it go and move on and start to write the next thing. Perfection is like chasing the horizon. Keep moving."

 - Neil Gaiman

Your Story Is Needed 

"We who make stories know that we tell lies for a living. But they are good lies that say true things, and we owe it to our readers to build them as best we can. Because somewhere out there is someone who needs that story. Someone who will grow up with a different landscape, who without that story will be a different person. And who with that story may have hope, or wisdom, or kindness, or comfort. And that is why we write."

― Neil Gaiman, The Graveyard Book

Support Your Local Library 

"Most people don't realize how important librarians are. I ran across a book recently which suggested that the peace and prosperity of a culture was solely related to how many librarians it contained. Possibly a slight overstatement. But a culture that doesn't value its librarians doesn't value ideas and without ideas, well, where are we?"

― Neil Gaiman

But little known and possibly the most important thing he can teach that no other writer has mentioned before - 

Plan For Your Literary Estate 

"There are writers who blithely explain to the world that they didn't make a will because they don't mind who gets their jeans and old guitar when they die but who would have conniptions if they realised how much aggravation their books or articles or poems or songs would cause their loved ones (or editors, anthologists or fans) after their death…

Writers put off making wills (well, human beings put off making wills, and most writers are probably human beings). Some of us think it's self-aggrandising or foolish to pretend that anyone would be interested in their books or creations after they're dead. Others secretly believe we're going to live forever and that making a will would mean letting Death in a crack."

― Neil Gaiman

Read the full post in his journal here: 

https://journal.neilgaiman.com/2006/10/important-and-pass-it-on.html

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