Road Trip to NaNo: Why Writing Rules Are Overrated

NaNoWriMo is an international event, and we’re taking a Road Trip to NaNo to hear about the stories being written every year in our hundreds of participating regions. Today, Sabrina Zirakzadah, our Municipal Liaison in the Asia :: Japan region explains how breaking the rules can be a good thing:

Weird, wonderful, and full of wa, Japan is a land of contradictions. Sprawling, crowded cities are interspersed with large swaths of open countryside and rice paddies; high-tech businesses still use fax machines; and kids at rock concerts headbang in unison before politely applauding. Sometimes the amount of disconnect in daily life can be perplexing, yet Japan has made it work for centuries. And if an entire culture can make the nonsensical seem normal, why can’t your novel do the same?

Writing seems so simple in theory: just put whatever is in your head onto paper for others to enjoy. Once you start, though, it can be easy to get bogged down in the rules of “good writing.” 

“But why do our stories have to make perfect, logical sense? The real world doesn’t!”

Being creative but grounded, imaginative but realistic, patching every little tiny plot hole, avoiding deus ex machina, creating depth, backstory, and fully realized worlds—it can all get overwhelming. Things that make perfect sense in our heads sometimes seem completely illogical when we write them down, and trying too hard to make sense of it all can sap the fun out of writing.

But why do our stories have to make perfect, logical sense? The real world doesn’t! I have five different garbage and recycling bins to sort through each week, yet the cookies come individually wrapped…why? Because Japan! It doesn’t make sense on the surface, but when you look beneath it, there is logic to it (in this case, because of the gift-giving culture in Japan). 

Don’t worry about whether or not your story makes total sense to everyone at first glance, or if the full depth of your world-building and character development is obvious at every moment. Forget about whether or not something is overused or illogical; if it made sense in your head, you can make it work on paper.

“The common thread in most of those stories you love? Imagination. Something new. Something that breaks the rules.”

I want you to think about some of the stories you enjoy the most, and try and summarize them in as few words as possible. Chances are, what you have is either incredibly overdone, completely nonsensical, or both. Now, think about what makes them special. The common thread in most of those stories you love? Imagination. Something new. Something that breaks the rules. 

Whether we are talking about the Pevensies living a lifetime in Narnia without a minute passing at home, Han Solo getting the girl instead of Luke Skywalker, or a love story told with robots in WALL-E, the best stories all take a chance at doing something different, whether or not it makes sense. Sometimes, they don’t even bother to fill the plot holes, like no one in the Emerald City ever questioning their green glasses. Your novel is your world, and the logic of reality doesn’t have to apply.

My challenge to you this November is this: break a rule. Any rule. Let your characters fly faster than light. Create a fantasy language that’s a mixture multiple real-life languages. Leave a plot hole without explanation. Then, as you continue writing and editing, make it work. Forget about being realistic, believable, or even good, and just be creative. Take whatever your story throws at you and run with it, no matter how little sense it may make. 

In the end, you’ll be left with something creative that you love and want to continue, rather than a safe, logical, but frustrating work you can’t wait to be rid of.

NaNoWriMo in Asia :: Japan

Sabrina Zirakzadeh is an eleventh year ML, and fifth year for Japan. She writes anything that inspires her, be it urban horror fantasy, teen romance, steampunk meta-fiction, or revenge thrillers. When she isn’t writing, she works as a freelance travel editor, English teacher, and performer in Osaka. She also writes songs and breaks the rules of music as frequently as she does the rules of fiction.

Top photo by Flickr user Moyan Brenn