As part of our A Novel November celebration, we asked our Facebook followers to send us their #1 rule for being a good writer. We were looking for tips that have helped our members and followers in their own writing process. People commented on our post and other users voted for the best rules by liking the comments. Based on the total likes, here’s the top 10 list of rules for great writing:

1 – “Writing is like parting with a piece of your soul. Once it’s all down on paper, it should feel like you’ve given something of yourself away. If it doesn’t, try again.” — Zofishan Shahid (13 likes)

2 – “Don’t let the fear of unacceptability come in the way of your writing. Don’t write wearing the uniform of a reader; that’s a completely different job. Stick to the writer’s attire.” — Laeequa Ahmad (13 likes)

3 – “You need to think from the reader’s perspective while you write and make your peers, teachers, or colleagues read your stuff to keep improving yourself with every draft.” — Aleena Mashhood (12 likes)

4 – “Don’t pretend. If you don’t know something, find out. Research but be honest in your writing.” — Fatima Hafsa Malik (11 likes)

5 – “Be a reader!” — Sufia Mariyah Zamir (10 likes)

6 – “Write.” — Noorulain Noor (9 likes)

7 – “(Like Hemingway said,) ‘Write drunk, edit sober‘.” — Rida Faran Farooqui (9 likes)

8 – “When your mind pushes you to write, do it quickly. That’s the time for creative writing.” — Raeesa Javed (8 likes)

9 – “Pretend you are writing to an old friend (someone who knows when you are bullshitting). Write to make her angry, happy, sad – anything but indifferent.” — Zainab Kizilbash Agha (6 likes)

10 – “Write what you’d like to read.” — Asif Nawaz (6 likes)

Design by Mandeep Chahal (Image: stock photo)