William Goldman’s 10 Commandments On Writing
William Goldman’s 10 commandments for writers offer practical, witty advice on writing well and telling better stories.
Novelist and Academy Award-winning screenwriter William Goldman became a legend in the world of writing during a career that spanned more than seven decades.
Born on 12 August 1931, Goldman died on 16 November 2018. He won two Academy Awards for his screenplays Butch Cassidy and the Sundance Kid and All the President’s Men. His novels included Marathon Man, and The Princess Bride, both of which he adapted for film. Goldman also wrote two entertaining books about his experiences in Hollywood: Adventures in the Screen Trade and Which Lie Did I Tell?
Goldman was also known for his sharp and practical advice for writers. Life might be a little easier for editors, publishers, and readers if more writers followed his rules.
William Goldman’s 10 Commandments On Writing
- Thou shalt not take the crisis out of the protagonist’s hands.
- Thou shalt not make life easy for the protagonist.
- Thou shalt not give exposition for exposition’s sake.
- Thou shalt not use false mystery or cheap surprise.
- Thou shalt respect thy audience.
- Thou shalt know thy world as God knows this one.
- Thou shalt not complicate when complexity is better.
- Thou shalt seek the end of the line, taking characters to the farthest depth of the conflict imaginable within the story’s own realm of probability.
- Thou shalt not write on the nose — put a subtext under every text.
- Thou shalt rewrite.
From Adventures in the Screen Trade: A Personal View of Hollywood and Screenwriting
 by William Goldman. (source)
by Amanda Patterson
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