Rule One: Thou Shalt Not Waste The Reader’s Time

OK, so there are NO RULES when it comes to writing. Whatever works, works. But the above rule, which I’ve heard from a tons of writers over the years, is the closest thing to a real iron-clad thing that I’ve ever heard. I obsess about this all the time – how to make sure I’m not wasting anybody’s time with self-indulgent drek. Your reader has  other things to do with their life, they’re busy, they’ve trusted you to tell them a story and you owe it to them to respect that their time is valuable. I always try to cut out everything that doesn’t feel essential for the story I’m telling, and just tighten, tighten, tighten as much as I can. I show my work as little as I can—I may have spent hundreds of hours obsessing about the details of how something works, but the reader doesn’t need to see that – they just need to see that it makes sense, and it works, and it’s cool. But at the same time, I’m happy to read your 10-page description of a meal someone is eating, or your chapter about whale blubber, or whatever. As long as it’s interesting in its own right, and it illuminates something about the characters and the world that helps me get into the story, then I’m there. So “don’t waste your reader’s time” is an elastic concept – but that doesn’t mean you shouldn’t think about it, like ALL THE TIME.

Image by Arjan Richter/CC