Due to a recent comment, I’ve been thinking about writing rules.
My main writing rule is this – I keep writing and re-writing a story until I think it’s the best story I’ve ever written.
For your friendly, neighborhood narcissist, abiding by this rule can be a daunting task. . .but I try.
I’d be curious to hear what “writing rules” other BC authors have.
Your beloved "rule-r,
Jill
Comments
none
Well not as such. It's not a rule per se, but my pet hate is bad grammar/puntuation so I make an effort to make sure what I write is readable technically even if the plot etc is maybe a bit unconventional.
I do sometimes make a few notes on plot points but I write best in a very 'organic' way without any hard points. This does mean that sometimes a whole 40k word 'novel' is between plot points, totally un scripted.
Madeline Anafrid Bell
Lol. I saw what you did there
That deliberate typo with the word "puntuation" was hilarious, especially since you were talking about your pet peeve being bad grammar and punctuation.
Your dry humor is very British, indeed, Maddy Bell. Lol.
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Three little rules
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
Three Little Words "Te Amo"
We do seem to identify with our protagonist, especially if the story is wish-fulfillment. It's caring what's going on in the other characters' minds that gets tough. I draw diagrams with lines of conflicts between the various characters. Sometimes it helps. Other times, I just wish I still had a mom to post it on the refrigerator.
I like giving personification of an inanimate object to show emotion. It's a trick Dickens "showed" me. A sad little grape left over from a hastily eaten lunch sat on the table.
I'm not normally into fantasy, but your Frozen Balance grabbed me right from the get go. Great story.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
No Conflict???
Now I realize what is wrong with a story I have been working on for years. There is no conflict in the chapter I've been struggling with. I've been struggling to just move it onto the next chapter... Gah !!!
Thanks
Gwen
Write
Rules for my writing self:
Write. Write something every day. Even if you don't feel like it. Even if it is only one hundred words that you are pretty sure you are going to delete the next time you come to the story. This is harder to do than it sounds.
Re-read. Re-read your own work, especially your work in progress. Stuck on a plot point? Go back and re-read the story. Fix typos, grammar, word choice as you go, interpolate a new paragraph here. Sharpen up a character description. She ran her fingers through her hair. She ran her fingers through already tousled hair. Implying it is something she's been doing, a sharper image of the character. Do the same for scenery. He went to his bedroom. He went up narrow stairs to his under-furnished bedroom.
Read. Read something else. A new author you've never tried before, or a book you've already read four times. Recharge your writing batteries with input from outside yourself.
Think. Think about what you are writing on while you are doing other things. Make a game of it. Name all the characters in the story to yourself and think of an adjective or phrase for each one.
Sleep. Sleep when you're tired and plot your dreams on your pillow.
Hugs,
Erin
= Give everyone the benefit of the doubt because certainty is a fragile thing that can be shattered by one overlooked fact.
Pillow Talk
I keep a pen and pad next to my bed for those middle of the night ideas.
Sometimes they're terrific -- and sometimes, in the light of day, I just shake my head.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
rules? I guess
Rules? I guess I have some.
Don't use other people's universe/characters without their permission.(not all will be flattered with a fan-fic). If you do, make sure they approve of your work before you post. It's not your universe/characters so the chances of not being true to them are very high. It's why I don't write fan-fiction and any work i do with other writers meets with their approval. (Jessie, Efindumb, Shiraz)
Try to plan as much as possible before you start the actual writing(character creation is foremost, location, plot and sub-plotting). This is critical, because you could deviate so much from your concept that it becomes something else entirely and you won't be satisfied. I speak from personal experience on that.
Do all you can to maintain continuity; one can intentionally leave gaps in a character background and add to enrich or explain. This does work, as opposed to rewriting a character's background to fit new plot-lines. Never recreate a character.
For me; I get inspiration from many sources: anime, tv shows/movies, books, the news and even just conversations that go way off course. There are some stories I just won't do(cheerleader, singer, forced femme, erotic) because so many have used it that I refuse to force a story out, or the concept doesn't appeal to me.
Last and finally, a rule that supersedes every rule; If writing something loses it's enjoyment for writer, STOP! Readers may enjoy an ongoing saga, but for the writer, there may come a time when the ideas slow down and even stop coming. Beating a dead horse is like hindsight, neither redeeming nor endearing. Like and/or love what you do, or don't do it.
This is what I do. Good luck future writers.
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall
Hmmmm
When I read your note about what kind of stories you won't do, I heard that sound people used to hear when they'd bump the side of a phonograph and the needle slid. Didn't you write a story about the Pom Pom Fortress that contains cheerleaders?
If people have not read your Frills or Late Night Princess, they should. Both are terrific.
New rule -- Read Alicia Snowfall's novels. Available on Amazon
https://www.amazon.com/s?k=frills+by+alicia+snowfall&ref=nb_...
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
PomPom
Pom Pom fortress had cheerleaders in it, but the protagonist wasn't one, nor wanted to be. PomPom is my example of a story going wrong due to not proper planning and I have no problem admitting that. I REALLY screwed that story up hardcore. I now refer to it as "a prime example of what NOT to do." The nightmare rider, Late Nite Princess, VentureRealm are examples of a story going my way. Frills is a story that took on a life of it's own. I try to rein them in now. Seems to be working. Even if I get block like I have lately, I still control my story instead just being along for the ride. I want to write stories I enjoy so much I can't keep them to myself.
quidquid sum ego, et omnia mea semper; Ego me.
alecia Snowfall
The curse of the sequel!
Alecia is absolutely right.
Trying to force writing is like trying to drink soup with chopsticks. Awkward, dispiriting and ultimately futile.
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
Rule Number One
Always include vowels and consonants.
Love, Andrea Lena
Y
eom
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
good/bad character
try to have good guys have a little bad and the bad guys have a little good in them.
My rules are simple
1. Write for myself first, and my readers second. (If I put my readers first I fear I'll not put my best into it. I can afford this luxury because I'm not trying to write for a living.)
2. Never post an incomplete story. My pet peeve is reading a story I really like and find it abandoned a couple of chapters (or more) short of the end.
3. If I'm struggling to move on... leave it lay. No sense forcing a storyline that will be as dry as an explanation of how to do calculus.
4. Write what you know. If a story delves into an area you aren't totally familiar with, stop and do the research... ask for help in understanding the area... in short do what ever it takes to gain the knowledge to be able to write convincingly about it.
5. Most of all enjoy what your doing. If it's not fun, no one, not even you will like the finished product.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin ein femininer Mann
My rule:
Don't follow the rules.
But I don't always follow that rule.
Actually, I just have to reiterate that the first rule is that you should write what you like.
I do have a bunch of techniques that I use, like taking notes so that I am consistent about names and descriptions and avoid gaping plot holes.
But really, write what you like. Even if you have to make money with it, and base everything on that rather than what you love, you won't create the quality. A lot of YouTubers have fallen into that trap. They end up pleasing YouTube and its advertisers rather than themselves and their core viewers.
Yes, I know that some people are instructed by their boss or publisher to produce a specific product. There are some series where the author is forced to follow a specific formula for the next book in the series. It's a living, but it can often be soul killing. How many graphic artists actually enjoy what the Big Boss forces him to draw? Some come home and produce the art that they love, and some come home and just try to recover from the drudgery. After several years, they look at their work (which is actually owned by someone else,) and wonder what happened.
Rules
Rules? Where we're writing, there are no rules...
I really don't have rules per se. A teacher in the 5th grade said to write "in white heat" which to her meant just write furiously and get your idea down and fix it later.
When I write dialog, I play it cinematically in my head as if it was a movie over and over until it comes out the way I want it.
And if I'm getting bored writing something, I figure the reader is getting bored reading it. So I discard and re-do it.
That's my two cents...
Melanie
Rules
My pet peeves are tense, number, spelling and malaprops.
If you're writing in the past tense, then be consistent. If you're writing in present tense, be consistent.
If your'e writing in the singular, don't switch to plural and vice versa.
If you're not sure of the spelling, look it up. All word processors have a spell checker.
If you're not sure of themeaning of a word, look it up. For instance, I read, 'he honed in on it.' NO, he didn't. Hone means whet or sharpen. Instead, write 'he homed in on it.' The usage comes from homing pigeons who unerringly returned to their coops. Also, homing missiles underringly home in on their target.
Use your built-in grammar checker, which will help. It ain't perfect, but it's a good start.
To help, use Spell Check and Grammar.
Red MacDonald
Honed or Homed
In my neck of the woods, people do "hone in" on things.
For example, she wanted her projections to be correct, so she honed in on the math. Honed in this case would mean, paid special attention to. . .like the RCA Victor dog.
I think most of us are a LOT better than we display here with grammar and spelling.
If we simply set aside what we've written for three to four weeks, and then edit it, we would have the perspective needed to actually see our errors. There appears to be a strong rush to publish.
When I read something I've just written, my eyes read what I wanted to write, not what's actually on the page.
The other observation I'll make is that if authors would read their writing out loud, they would be amazed at what they find to correct.
Thanks for your comments.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Both are valid
They have similar but distinct meanings. “ Home in” means to get closer to, like a missile homing in on its target, while “hone in” means to pay closer attention to or listen to something (from hone - to sharpen or make more acute).
Persephone
Non sum qualis eram
My Rules have . . . evolved. . .
Back in the late 90's, I did a chat at FM where I was interviewed by other authors and readers. At the time, main rules were
1. Never publish an unfinished story. Even If posted as a serial (back in the days of 1200 baud modems when postings over 10K were frowned on), make sure I've reached and am satisfied with "The end" first. I owed myself and those I shared my stuff with completion.
2. Happy Endings are required. My stories were always motivated by love of some type and I was just not a "The Love Story" or "Romeo and Juliett" kinda cat.
3. The protagonist must be faced with a major challenge of overcome conflict for the story to have a pull on my imagination. Onward to Victory! Moreover, victory cannot be 'impossible' to achieve. Makes Rule 2 kinda hard.
And to a certain extent, those still are my rules for sharing something I've written with others here and other places on the web. However, whereas in the past, when I wrote something in which it became clear there was no path to my HEA ending, or the conflict became too great to overcome, I dumped the story. I'd save it in some hidden folder on my hard disk, or just give it to Uncle Bill and his Recycle Bin.
In recent years, I've begun to persevere with such stories, at least a while. Often I'm trying to "tell myself' something that I really don't want to face. Can't begin to tell you how many times in the past few years, Aunt Jane has gone through the hell of chemo - or worse. I freaking hate it when that happens, but I've learned that not writing it, not telling myself, not reading it lets whatever is bugging me fester. I think - I believe - that I've avoided more than a couple of calls to the grief counselor by facing those messages from within.
And then I dump it, but I don't leave myself with unresolved 'what if's or with my emotions hanging.
So basically, my rules have changed in response to my own needs.
warm furries,
Tiggs
Writing rules?
Rule 1: Write something every day. It doesn't matter what it is as long as your write.
Rule 2: Don't stop to correct spelling, punctuation or tense when you're writing. (this is done later)
Rule 3: Follow your muse! Don't ever force yourself to write something you do not wish to write. Even if you know your readers are waiting on the 123rd chapter of that great story you've been posting, it's better to wait on the next chapter than to post one that doesn't have the energy it should have.
Oh and rule 4: Think outside the box :)
We the willing, led by the unsure. Have been doing so much with so little for so long,
We are now qualified to do anything with nothing.
Rules?
Make your characters real people, then let them speak to you.