Rules
When it comes to creative writing, I'm not a huge believer in rules. Obviously, rules concerning grammar, spelling, punctuation, etc. need to be followed, but most of the rest of the "rules" for writing fiction are, as Captain Hector Barbosa put, "more what you'd call guidelines than actual rules." Some of them just seem to me downright silly or even contradictory. One I've seen a lot of is "no adverbs." Forbidding the use of a part of speech in writing is just silly on its face, but in addition to not using adverbs, we're supposed to be succinct and get to the point or we'll lose our readers. So how do I describe something succinctly (oh crap, I just used an adverb!) but without using adverbs? Without adverbs I have to go into description that'll need at least three or four words where one - the dreaded adverb - would've done the job. In other words, I can't be succinct. Further investigation into the the adverb rule reveals that what they mean is adverbs shouldn't be overdone. But this goes without saying - nothing should be overdone. Overdoing anything gets tiresome, not just adverbs.
Another one I find odd is that the writer should tone down his/her vocabulary. A reader shouldn't have to run to a dictionary to understood what the writer said. Yes, gods forbid a reader should learn something. Reading - and being raised by and among avid readers - is how I built my vocabulary. A lot, believe it or not, was from comic books I read as a kid. Many characters were super genius villains or heroes and you had to know how smart they were, so they used lots of big words... but I learned so many new words from that, so many different ways to express things. P.D. James said, "Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it." Why write something is some dry, dead manner? That's like wanting a track and field man who can only run five miles per hour. Part of the talent of writing is the ability to manipulate words the way musicians manipulate notes. Take this rule - be succinct/don't use any big words - to its logical conclusion and reading a novel would be almost indistinguishable from reading a shopping list. One of the things I love about H.P. Lovecraft's writing is some of the sentences he constructed. Granted, he sometimes got a little crazy, but most of the time I find his sentences wonderfully crafted. Just as sentences can get too complex, so can they get too succinct. What paints are to a painter, words are to the writer. Lovecraft's sentences are the equivalent of a pastoral painting while succinct writing is like a solid green canvas. Of course, much of this is genre specific. I find crime/detective stories tend to benefit from being succinct. So do thrillers. Those are stories to be fast paced. Some stories, though, are to be savored.
However, I do think there are some rules that should be religiously adhered to, all expressed by other writers far better than I could. The first is from Neil Gaiman: "The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like... So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter."
You have a story to tell, and no one else can tell it like you can, so tell it as you think it should be told. This is not to say you're infallible. You can get other people's points of view, suggestions, criticisms and guidance. In fact, I encourage it. Likewise, you'll have to polish your work by writing numerous drafts. Other people's input has its limits, though. Sometimes you'll get several people telling you completely different things. Other times, you'll get them violating the next rule.
Rule 2 comes from Meg Cabot: "Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either." I cannot stress the importance of this one enough. If you are so focused on following the rules posted on writing blogs and sites and magazines that you lose that inner voice, you've defeated your purpose. You have to tell whatever story you have inside you. It might not be what's trendy or fashionable right now, but if you try to write what's trendy as opposed to what you truly want to right, it's going to be a miserable experience. It's like doing a book report on the book your teacher made you read as opposed to a book you wanted to read, only a thousand times worse. Moreover, the product won't be nearly as good as it would be if you wrote what you really wanted to write. High/epic fantasy isn't the trendy seller right now in the genre, but it's what I love to write, and if you're not writing what you love, why bother writing at all? It can be torturous enough under normal conditions, but when you're writing something you don't really want to write, it assumes a whole new level of sucktitude. This rule is one I'm particularly fond of. Just as thrillers tend to benefit from succinctness, fantasy often suffers from it. When I'm reading fantasy, I want to be drawn into that world. I want to be immersed in it. I want to experience it. It's rather like a vacation - I want to step out of my everyday life into something wonderful, and I don't want it to end quickly. Experiencing a world isn't done succinctly. It takes time. Think of your favorite movie. Would it have been as good if it had lasted only half an hour? Probably not. The same is true of books. What's particularly maddening in the fantasy genre is that the industry says it wants well developed worlds, societies, races, etc., yet they want it to be succinct. The two are mutually exclusive. It takes time and words - even an adverb now and then - to construct a well developed world. When fantasy writers try to be succinct in creating these things, they almost invariably fall flat. The worlds are dull, often populated by cliches, and the races and characters cardboard cut-outs rather than authentic figures. Or they try to cram too much information into too little space and I'm left wondering what is going on and what the writer is talking about. I find it's often like coming into a conversation already in progress and I'm struggling to catch up and figure out who's who and what's what. I write what I like to read. I love high fantasy that draws me in, and when I reach the end I go, "Aw, man, it's over... when's the next story coming out?" I strive to give my readers that when I write a story. I'm trying to organize my first novel, Triad, into an e-book. I had an Amazon editor look it over. Based on his comments, I succeeded in my mission. I'm not a fan of Marilyn Monroe, but there is one quote of hers I'm fond of: "If I'd observed all the rules I'd never have got anywhere."
Another one I find odd is that the writer should tone down his/her vocabulary. A reader shouldn't have to run to a dictionary to understood what the writer said. Yes, gods forbid a reader should learn something. Reading - and being raised by and among avid readers - is how I built my vocabulary. A lot, believe it or not, was from comic books I read as a kid. Many characters were super genius villains or heroes and you had to know how smart they were, so they used lots of big words... but I learned so many new words from that, so many different ways to express things. P.D. James said, "Increase your word power. Words are the raw material of our craft. The greater your vocabulary the more effective your writing. We who write in English are fortunate to have the richest and most versatile language in the world. Respect it." Why write something is some dry, dead manner? That's like wanting a track and field man who can only run five miles per hour. Part of the talent of writing is the ability to manipulate words the way musicians manipulate notes. Take this rule - be succinct/don't use any big words - to its logical conclusion and reading a novel would be almost indistinguishable from reading a shopping list. One of the things I love about H.P. Lovecraft's writing is some of the sentences he constructed. Granted, he sometimes got a little crazy, but most of the time I find his sentences wonderfully crafted. Just as sentences can get too complex, so can they get too succinct. What paints are to a painter, words are to the writer. Lovecraft's sentences are the equivalent of a pastoral painting while succinct writing is like a solid green canvas. Of course, much of this is genre specific. I find crime/detective stories tend to benefit from being succinct. So do thrillers. Those are stories to be fast paced. Some stories, though, are to be savored.
However, I do think there are some rules that should be religiously adhered to, all expressed by other writers far better than I could. The first is from Neil Gaiman: "The main rule of writing is that if you do it with enough assurance and confidence, you're allowed to do whatever you like... So write your story as it needs to be written. Write it honestly, and tell it as best you can. I'm not sure that there are any other rules. Not ones that matter."
You have a story to tell, and no one else can tell it like you can, so tell it as you think it should be told. This is not to say you're infallible. You can get other people's points of view, suggestions, criticisms and guidance. In fact, I encourage it. Likewise, you'll have to polish your work by writing numerous drafts. Other people's input has its limits, though. Sometimes you'll get several people telling you completely different things. Other times, you'll get them violating the next rule.
Rule 2 comes from Meg Cabot: "Write the kind of story you would like to read. People will give you all sorts of advice about writing, but if you are not writing something you like, no one else will like it either." I cannot stress the importance of this one enough. If you are so focused on following the rules posted on writing blogs and sites and magazines that you lose that inner voice, you've defeated your purpose. You have to tell whatever story you have inside you. It might not be what's trendy or fashionable right now, but if you try to write what's trendy as opposed to what you truly want to right, it's going to be a miserable experience. It's like doing a book report on the book your teacher made you read as opposed to a book you wanted to read, only a thousand times worse. Moreover, the product won't be nearly as good as it would be if you wrote what you really wanted to write. High/epic fantasy isn't the trendy seller right now in the genre, but it's what I love to write, and if you're not writing what you love, why bother writing at all? It can be torturous enough under normal conditions, but when you're writing something you don't really want to write, it assumes a whole new level of sucktitude. This rule is one I'm particularly fond of. Just as thrillers tend to benefit from succinctness, fantasy often suffers from it. When I'm reading fantasy, I want to be drawn into that world. I want to be immersed in it. I want to experience it. It's rather like a vacation - I want to step out of my everyday life into something wonderful, and I don't want it to end quickly. Experiencing a world isn't done succinctly. It takes time. Think of your favorite movie. Would it have been as good if it had lasted only half an hour? Probably not. The same is true of books. What's particularly maddening in the fantasy genre is that the industry says it wants well developed worlds, societies, races, etc., yet they want it to be succinct. The two are mutually exclusive. It takes time and words - even an adverb now and then - to construct a well developed world. When fantasy writers try to be succinct in creating these things, they almost invariably fall flat. The worlds are dull, often populated by cliches, and the races and characters cardboard cut-outs rather than authentic figures. Or they try to cram too much information into too little space and I'm left wondering what is going on and what the writer is talking about. I find it's often like coming into a conversation already in progress and I'm struggling to catch up and figure out who's who and what's what. I write what I like to read. I love high fantasy that draws me in, and when I reach the end I go, "Aw, man, it's over... when's the next story coming out?" I strive to give my readers that when I write a story. I'm trying to organize my first novel, Triad, into an e-book. I had an Amazon editor look it over. Based on his comments, I succeeded in my mission. I'm not a fan of Marilyn Monroe, but there is one quote of hers I'm fond of: "If I'd observed all the rules I'd never have got anywhere."
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