Rules of Writing Question

When information becomes free and universally accessible, voluminous research for a novel is devalued along with it.

True?  False? Discuss.

Rules of Writing Question

Jonathan Franzen said "It's doubtful that anyone with an Internet connection at his workplace is writing good fiction."

What do you think?

Personally, I would go nuts without having the Internet, mostly because I couldn't bring my various reference books with me to England, so my dictionary, thesaurus and anything-else-I-need-to-look-up are online.  I work 9-6 at a day job, so the library isn't an option for me either.  I use the Internet to fact-check, come up with character names and, yes, to procrastinate.

Rules of Writing Question

 Geoff Dyer, in his 10 rules of writing says:  

Have more than one idea on the go at any one time. If it's a choice between writing a book and doing nothing I will always choose the latter. It's only if I have an idea for two books that I choose one rather than the other. I ­always have to feel that I'm bunking off from something.

Do you think it's better to have a few things on the go or to focus on one project at a time?

Another Random Question about Writing

Thought I might make this a weekly thing.  So here's today's question:

Do you think there is an unbreakable rule regarding (ad)verbs to carry dialogue?

I've heard it said many times that writers should never use any word other than "said" to carry dialogue and that adverbs should be avoided altogether.  What are your thoughts?

Personally, I use tonnes of other verbs to carry dialogue (the two most frequent being "told" and "admitted", though I'm also fond of "mumbled" and "screamed"), but I try to avoid awkward ones like "intoned" or "admonished" unless I'm trying to convey something really specific.  I also like to use verbs which you aren't technically supposed to apply to speech, like "smiled" and "sneered" - and I think in children's books, it's fair game to go ahead and include ones like "huffed" and "snarled", especially if your characters are animals.

A Random Question

A random question about your writing:

What are your thoughts on titling?

IE: Do you title your works before or after you write them?  Do you use working titles or refer to your pieces as that one where... until they're finished?