You Can Have Your Cake and Write it Too: The 80/20 Guideline in Writing

I came upon this literary principle from a dietary one. That is the 80/20 rule in eating. If you eat healthy 80% of the time, you can have treats for the other 20%. The same can apply to writing.

How it applies is that 80% of the time you focus on the main theme of your story, and for the other 20% you can stray from it a bit. Though granted with this formula, most of your story should be focused on your theme, or it could lack focus. But to go away from it a little can create more of a realistic balance, as in life not everything goes entirely in one direction. For example, we all have different things going on in our lives, work, hobbies, family, etc…, also with a variety of tastes and interests.

Another example, is the current series I’m working on, A Modern Mr. Darcy, where the main character, Russell Neale is going through a divorce and finds solace and inspiration writing romance novels and with Jane Austen. So though he really likes Austen, he also has other pursuits, such as racquetball and hockey and other things going on in his life, such as his good friend, Lucy, dealing with his ex, Betty, while having a long lost high school sweetheart reenter his life. Again, it’s all about balance, like food, like life and writing too!––L.P. Kirkbride, June, 2021