Off the Cuff / My Other Journal

Fiction Writer's Mantra

I was looking at the article “Make Your Sad Story a Universal One” by Jessica Handler in July 2010 Writer, the monthly magazine. Inside it is advice most of us already know, but when I saw the page as a visual, I noticed the bolded lines. I think they can easily be considered a fiction writer’s mantra.
They are:
Plot is the reader’s lifeline.
Character not caricature
The right word in the right place (meaning precision)
Getting your hands dirty (meaning research)
Reader Reward (meaning what your work can give to the reader)

I like mantras, even though I don’t practice any of the mantra-using religions. Mantras as conduits instill a precise concentration inside the devotees. Since writers are devotees of the written word why not have a mantra for fiction writers? To remind ourselves as writers to what is important, we need not say “Om Mani Padme Hum” or any other mystically vibrating verbiage. Instead, because the bolded parts from the article are too long to memorize, I am going to shorten them to what I can recall more easily as:
Plot, Character, Precision, Research, Offering.

Still, it would benefit a writer to read the article since it explains all those bolded lines very well.