Essential rules for writing

There might not be any set in stone right or wrong in writing, but that doesn’t stop us from coming up with our own personal rules for it. I think one of the reasons for this is that no matter how chaotic we and/or our writing styles might be, we still need at least a modicum of organisation to actually get things done.

Hence rules start to form, either by design or accident, but either way shaping how we write. The important thing is that they are rules that help rather than hinder us; getting distracted by other people’s writing rules or feeling as though we should follow the rules of already-successful writers isn’t always the best course of action. This is an area we by and large have to figure out for ourselves.

Except for very occasionally. I would argue that there are a few rules of writing that (nearly) always apply. Editing, for one. We need to edit. Writing is not just about putting some words on a page and that’s that. It’s about refining and honing those words on the page until they are the best they can be. So that’s universal rule one: don’t neglect the editing.

What else? Exclamation marks in novels (and most other things) should generally be kept to a minimum. Reading your work out loud is a good way of seeing how it flows and is especially good for dialogue.

Then, of course, there is what is perhaps the most important writing rule of all. It is absolutely essential. No matter what other rules you go by or how you go about your writing, this is one thing all writers must adhere to or else face potential ruin. Back up your work, or else run the risk of seeing it all mysteriously vanish the next time the computer has one of its special moments or you drop your vital notebook in the bath. A systematic and orderly approach to backing up your writing has to be one of the few essential rules that exist.

What do you think? Are any writing rules essential, or is it entirely down to the writer in question?