Link to 10 Rules for Writing

[gardentuber]

I found this on Google News today. It's worth a look-see. Check it out. It includes thoughts on writing from none other than Margaret Atwood!

 

Guardian Newspaper's Article on Writing

[Nephylim]

Well... hmm... what is it they say about rules... oh yes... they're there to be broken. Can you imagine how great stories would be if the only thing that came after speech was said?

[rec]

I think rules are meant to be learned and then to be broken -- assuming, of course, that the writing with the breaking of the rules is better or fresher than with the rules. This is an assumption that writers need to be forever testing.

 

Well... hmm... what is it they say about rules... oh yes... they're there to be broken. Can you imagine how great stories would be if the only thing that came after speech was said?

[gardentuber]

Well... hmm... what is it they say about rules... oh yes... they're there to be broken. Can you imagine how great stories would be if the only thing that came after speech was said?

 

The first author who offered rules described a rule and then immediately presented a flouting of the rule. That was great! She clearly supported breaking the rules she was offering. I didn't infer any snobbishness in the offerings. I liked them!

 

Yes, rules are meant to be broken, but they are also very useful. The purpose of the offerings is to help make stories more readable and vital. It's not just the plot that moves a story along, it's the language as well. The rules don't speak to plots, just to the craft of presenting the plot. After all, a dramatic plot can flounder under the weight of lugubrious language, syntax or grammar. (I liked especially the suggestion that writers reread their best chestnuts to make certain that they won't take attention from the story... best chestnuts such as: 'lugubrious language' and 'best chestnuts')

[John Doe]

"Rules are meant to be broken" Ha in some cases they shouldn't. Many people think they are too good for rules and well yeah... but rules should be a guideline and once you are comfortable enough in your work, then the rules could be molded and mended to fit your needs. I like the one where it says "Only bad writers think that their work is really good." I see it everyday. People seem to think they are the next bestseller and what not... if you are, you would have been already. Richard Ford's advices I am tossing out the window. After all they are only advice, take what you will of them. (I also think the guy is a tool and jerk... though his writing is amazing.)

[Nephylim]

Hehe... interesting points. I guess I just have issues with rules. I am the one who when they see a big red button which says 'Do Not Press' just HAS to press it. If someone tells me 'don't do this' or 'do that' I really don't like it so for me rules are always meant to be broken. Of course if the things I do or want to do happen to be the same as the rules dictate then i won't cut off my nose to spite my face

 

Besides... for me writing is a pleasure and a release. It is not an academic exercise. I neither profess nor aspire to be great. I do what I do just because I do. If I ever stop loving writing I will stop and if I ever get bound up with rules when I am writing I will stop loving it. So I suppose I will travel alongside the rules until I have to follow at which point I will stop.

 

Havindg said that I am struck with a thought. I have spent my whole life writing in one form or another... mostly academically and professionally and not fiction until the last couple of years. I suppose it is more what rec said... I've learned them so well that now they are just there and I use them without even thinking. Hmm. Food for thought.

[gardentuber]

Yeah, it all depends on the meaning of the word 'rules', doesn't it?

 

If it means 'things you should do or else', then who wants to pay attention? If it means 'a bunch of really good ideas based on lots of experience' then who's to complain?

 

I place these rules in the second category. And as Nephylim said, averred and suggested, why limit yourself to the word 'said'? Tho', I think the point is that stories get larded with words that aren't as powerful as their more prosaic counterparts.

Edited March 5, 2010 by gardentuber