Becoming a Writer: The Classic Inspirational Guide (D.Brande, 1996)

1. The Four Difficulties (p.23)
* The difficulty of writing at all
* The 'one-book author'
* The occasional writer

2. What Writers are Like (p.33)
* Cultivating a wrtier's termperament
* False and real artists
* The two sides of a writer
* 'Dissociation' not always psychopathic
* Everyday examples of dual personality
* The slough of despond - 'But it is possible to train both sides of the chracter to work in harmony, and the first step is that education is to consider that you must teach yourself not as though you were one person, but two.'

3. The Advantage of Duplicity (p.43)
* The process of story formation
* The two persons of the writer
* Keep your own counsel
* Your 'best friend and severest critic'

6. Writing on Schedule (p.69)
* Engaging to write
* Succeed, or stop writing - 'if you fail repeatedly at this exercise, give up writing. Your resistance is acutally greater than your desire to write, and you may as well find some other outlet for your energy early as late.' 'These two strange and arbitrary performances - early morning writing, and writing by prearrangement - should be kept til you write fluently at will'

7. The First Survey (p.75)
* Reading your work critically
* The pitfalls of imitation
* Discovering your strength

9. Readings as Writer (p.91)
* Read twice
* Points of importance - 'each writer will ask his own questions and find his own suggestive points. After the first few books, which you must read twice if you are to make good use of the work of others - you will find that you can read for enjoyment and for crticism simultaneously, researving a second reading only for those pages where the author has been at their best or worst.'

12. The Source of Originality (p.111)
* Originality not imitation
* The 'surprise ending'
* Honesty
* Trust yourself
* One story, many versions

18. In Conclusion: Some Prosaic Pointers (p.159)
* write! - 'if you are unable to finish a piece of work at one sitting, make an engagement with yourself to resume work before you rise from the table '
* for coffee addicts
* reading