Being the insanely avid Star Wars fan that I am, I couldn’t help but share an article I read on Writer’s Digest’s website yesterday.
The article is “8 Things Star Wars Can Teach Us About Writing” by James Duncan, and it outlines eight tips for writers using lessons gleaned from the Star Wars movies. Sometimes these types of articles can be pretty hackneyed or unrelated to the topic they’re trying to discuss, but Duncan’s article actually weaves considerable detail from the movies into critical lessons for writers.
Even though all eight of the tips are brilliant, I think my favorite is #5: I have a bad feeling about this. Duncan uses this token Star Wars phrase to suggest that if you’re writing something and it feels wrong, it probably is – so change it. This happened to me with “Disconnected” and not long ago with the novel I’m working on, so I think this is one of the most valuable pieces of advice from one writer to another. Trust your gut, fellow writers! It’ll rarely steer you wrong.
Oh, and never tell me the odds.
