Top Ten Rules for Fiction Writing

[marguerite]

Yet another article on fiction writing, this time posted by The Guardian. I don't recommend trying to follow all the rules at once, and some you may not want to follow at all, but it never hurts to hear what other writers have to say (especially if they've published).

 

Then again, some of these recommendations remind me of the folks who explain how they managed to stay married for 65 years or live to 90. Attributing success to luck is never so much fun as crediting a daily pint of beer and chocolates on Saturdays.

Best,

M

[Steve E]

Yet another article on fiction writing, this time posted by The Guardian. I don't recommend trying to follow all the rules at once, and some you may not want to follow at all, but it never hurts to hear what other writers have to say (especially if they've published).

 

Then again, some of these recommendations remind me of the folks who explain how they managed to stay married for 65 years or live to 90. Attributing success to luck is never so much fun as crediting a daily pint of beer and chocolates on Saturdays.

Best,

M

Hi M

 

I enjoyed the list but I doubt I could follow those rules. ("You are allowed no more than two or three [exclamation points] per 100,000 words of prose." Madness!!!)

 

Now if only there were a beer and chocolate rule.

- Thoth.

[orrenm]

I think my favorite rule is from one of my favorite writers, 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. (That may be a rule for life as well as for writing. But it's definitely true for writing.) 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.

 

Maybe it's the "punk rocker" in me, but even though I'm 40, if someone tells me not to do something a certain way, I feel an urge to do just that and to do it incredibly well. Someone says don't use adverbs, don't use any verb but "said," whatever, I want to write a story loaded with those words that is so compelling it can't be put down, partly to rub the speaker's nose in it.

 

Then again, Neil was probably a punk himself, so maybe that's why I like him so much.

 

Orren

[Steve E]

I see the resemblance.

[marguerite]

Maybe it's the "punk rocker" in me, but even though I'm 40, if someone tells me not to do something a certain way, I feel an urge to do just that and to do it incredibly well. Someone says don't use adverbs, don't use any verb but "said," whatever, I want to write a story loaded with those words that is so compelling it can't be put down, partly to rub the speaker's nose in it.

 

Then again, Neil was probably a punk himself, so maybe that's why I like him so much.

 

Orren

 

I tend to agree. Or, as Somerset Maugham is supposed to have said, "There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are."

 

Sure, research suggests that readers ignore "said," whereas alternatives to "said" can be intrusive. And adverbs, used unwisely, weaken one's writing: "Get out of here!" she yelled angrily. But does it really follow that "whisper," "mutter," etc., only come from the narrator? Don't people recognize when they're whispering or yelling? Suppose the heroine doesn't yell but instead mutters "Get out of here" under her breath? Should we eliminate an entire category of words because lazy writers misuse them? Makes no sense to me.

 

When I hear these things, I sometimes think it's a kind of authorial game: see how we write with only nouns and verbs (even adjectives are suspect in some quarters). Weird.

M

[Steve E]

...

When I hear these things, I sometimes think it's a kind of authorial game: see how we write with only nouns and verbs (even adjectives are suspect in some quarters). Weird.

M

 

The one that sticks in my mind is the Single Adjective Rule. Remember that one from a bygone era? You could write "brown fox" but you couldn't write "quick brown fox" because too many adjectives would bore the readers or lose them in the haze of adjectives. For example, by the time you read "one eyed, one horned, flying, purple, people eater" you'd forget that it had only one eye. At least that's the theory. So editors are supposedly on the lookout for lots of commas in a sentence as a reason to reject a book out of hand*.

 

Weird indeed,

- Thoth.

 

*The First Five Pages: A Writer's Guide to Staying Out of the Rejection Pile by Noah Lukeman (Paperback - Jan. 1, 2005)

[orrenm]

When I hear these things, I sometimes think it's a kind of authorial game: see how we write with only nouns and verbs (even adjectives are suspect in some quarters). Weird.

 

Or maybe some of them are simply lying.

 

I'm a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan (surprised, anyone? ) and I forget the name of it, but he wrote an essay on how he approaches writing. Only, most of it was made up, and not his actual workflow or process at all. But he thought it sounded good, built up a mythology, etc. And frankly, it was a good essay!

 

I would not be surprised if many of these writers were "taking the piss" as our English cousins say, or perhaps "blowing smoke" (either in general or into one orifice or another)...

 

Orren

[Steve E]

I'm a huge Edgar Allen Poe fan (surprised, anyone? ) and I forget the name of it, but he wrote an essay on how he approaches writing. Only, most of it was made up, and not his actual workflow or process at all. But he thought it sounded good, built up a mythology, etc. And frankly, it was a good essay!

Back when I was an undergraduate and commuted to school (one train, one bus) I caught the bus by Poe Park (in the Bronx) where Poe Cottage still stands. Back then, during the summer months, the NYC Parks Department would give tours of the place. The most common question on the tour, at least according to one tour guide, was "How could he write on such a small desk in such a small room?" The answer was, "He had a process," at which point someone who knew the man's history would say, "Yeah, opium."

 

Still enjoying the hideous beating of his tell-tale heart.

- Thoth

[sherryll]

Yet another article on fiction writing, this time posted by The Guardian. I don't recommend trying to follow all the rules at once, and some you may not want to follow at all, but it never hurts to hear what other writers have to say (especially if they've published).

 

Then again, some of these recommendations remind me of the folks who explain how they managed to stay married for 65 years or live to 90. Attributing success to luck is never so much fun as crediting a daily pint of beer and chocolates on Saturdays.

Best,

M

 

 

Thanks for the article link, Marguerite.

 

Once I stop procrastinating, I'll look at it :-)

 

Sherryll

[sherryll]

How about this: we can waste time by making up our own ten or twenty or thirty rules of writing. For me, writing with "rules" is an oxymoron.

 

I'm with the oppositional team.

 

Sherryll

[Steve E]

And for no good reason, here are a few silly quotes about writing..

 

There are three rules of writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. — W. Somerset Maugham

History will be kind to me for I intend to write it. — Winston Churhill

It is a mean thief or a successful author that plunders the dead. — Austin O'Malley

Truth is shorter than fiction. — Irving Cohen

In six pages I can't even say "hello." — James Michener

Nobody ever committed suicide while reading a good book, but many have while trying to write one. — Robert Byrne

 

- Thoth.

[Steve E]

How about this: we can waste time by making up our own ten or twenty or thirty rules of writing. For me, writing with "rules" is an oxymoron.

 

I'm with the oppositional team.

 

Sherryll

Ah! Another pantser!

 

Early on in the forums (I don't remember exactly where) we divided the forum members into two types: plotters, who have to plan everything out before they write word one of the manuscript; pantsers, who write by the seat of their pants. Many of us are a little of both.

 

Credit Marguerite for the categories.

- Thoth

[Joolissa]

I like those last two quotes especially Thoth. Good finds.

 

I sit firmly on the fence between Plotter and Pantser, sometimes I fall off on one side or another, but eventually I end up back in the middle.

 

Walking the line, with bad balance however

- Juju bear (didn't you give me that one Thoth?)

[Steve E]

Walking the line, with bad balance however

- Juju bear (didn't you give me that one Thoth?)

I think it was Julibear.

-Thothipoo.

[Joolissa]

Ah yes... I found the document I have with all the NNs/spellings people have given me... and I have Julibear, JuJu, Julorama from you.

 

Thothipie? Teehee... watch out... that might stick... the Overlady minions are taking note.

 

So, does anyone have a rule book or an instructional book or anti-rule book that they like or would recommend? A favorite writing reference?

 

-Julorama

[marguerite]

Ah yes... I found the document I have with all the NNs/spellings people have given me... and I have Julibear, JuJu, Julorama from you.

 

Thothipie? Teehee... watch out... that might stick... the Overlady minions are taking note.

 

So, does anyone have a rule book or an instructional book or anti-rule book that they like or would recommend? A favorite writing reference?

 

-Julorama

I like John Truby's The Anatomy of Story. He does give rules, most of which I ignore, but he explains story structure better than anyone I know. I also like Elizabeth George's book Write Away—more for a sense of a fellow author in struggle than the specifics, but the specifics are good, too. And Michael somebody's Writing Screenplays That Sell is useful if we've twisted your arm enough that you sign up for Script Frenzy. He talks about story structure, too, as well as script formatting and other basics.

Best,

M

[Joolissa]

I will have to check out those books. I'll have to check out the Screenplay one for SF. I was looking at it on Amazon and saw this in the related books:

 

How to Write a Movie in 21 Days

http://www.amazon.com/How-Write-Movie-21-D.../ref=pd_sim_b_2

 

If it's any good, perhaps it should be required reading for those Screenplay Script Frenzy-ists.

- J

[Steve E]

So, does anyone have a rule book or an instructional book or anti-rule book that they like or would recommend? A favorite writing reference?

Didn't we do this already in a few places?

 

Check out Writing Resources > Books in the forums.

 

- Thoth.