Writing 101: The 10 Rules of Writing, Part 2
Greetings and Sabatons! ...Okay, don’t look that one up! I swear I do not have a foot fetish! Anyway, it is I, your favourite alien Limax, VIVIAN! But today is not my show yet again! It is the one, the only, the amazing, the wordy, Lady Verbosa! Aka Anne Winchell! Take it from here!
(Anne:) Thanks again, Vivian! I could get used to posting things this often! Though I suppose the only reason I’m getting two weeks in a row is because I had way too much to say to fit into a single post. I’ll try to keep this to a reasonable size as I go through my last five rules. (Vivian: I make 15 rules in one post and she needs two posts to do 10 because she blabbers on 😛)
The first five rules all had to do with the story itself, from the audience to narrative structure to point of view to conflict to character. If you have a story and you’re looking for advice and rules on bigger picture story stuff, head back to the first five rules to review. These second five rules, on the other hand, are about the parts of writing not directly related to the story part of the story but equally important. I’ll talk about the oft-mentioned show, don’t tell, get into how to edit and proofread, then focus on you as an author and how to be confident and keep your mental health good. These are the second five, but they’re extremely important rules to follow, and I’ll try to offer some good, concrete advice to follow!
Rule #6 Show, don’t tell
If you’ve ever taken a writing class, you’ve probably heard this phrase at least once. “Show, don’t tell” is a common refrain throughout writing, and that’s because it’s one of the most important things you can do. I talk a lot about it in my post on exposition. So what exactly does it mean? How can you make sure to follow this rule?
It makes me sad that people tell things
Let’s take these terms backwards, and let’s use emotions as an example, similar to what I do in my post on emotions. These are a common thing that gets told. So what does it mean to tell? Basically, you give a brief, vague overview of something using abstract terms rarely or only loosely rooted in the concrete world.
Bob was happy to graduate.
Okay, so we have a vague sense of what this word means. However, “happy” is an example of an abstract word because it has no physical referents; it’s unconnected to the world of the senses. Plus, it’s extremely vague. Happiness means different things to different people. Everyone experiences it differently. If we’re just told Bob is happy, we have almost no idea what he’s actually feeling except in a vague, abstract sense.
My heart leaps when people show things
Showing, on the other hand, involves giving specific details rooted in the five senses. How exactly does happiness feel to Bob? How can we show the audience the way he experiences it?
Bob’s lips curved upward. Heat flooded his limbs, expanding outward with his blood from his heart to his torso to his extremities, and his hand trembled as he received the piece of paper he had worked so hard for. The dean’s handshake crushed against his other hand, and the pressure sent shocks up his arm that mingled with the heat like an old-fashioned light bulb exuding the double effects of heat and light. His flimsy graduation robes felt like rich velvet caressing his wrist as he lowered his hand, clutching the scroll as if it were a treasure that could be snatched away at any time.
Okay, I might have gone a little overboard with detail 😅 I was having fun remembering my own graduation! If you’re short on space, just a single detail or two can do. Any single sentence in this could work, because every single sentence here shows, not tells. But if this is an important moment, you absolutely want to dedicate the space to it. Linger on the moments that matter.
Two things that I did here (other than amount of detail) was make sure everything was available to the senses and use analogies. Analogies are any comparison of two things. This includes comparisons, which I have with the lightbulb, and aso similes, which I have in the last sentence. Analogies are a great way to show the audience what you mean by comparing it to something they’re likely to know. We might not know what shocks mingling with heat feel like, but we understand a lightbulb heating up as it gives off light.
By the way, you can do the opposite in speculative fiction. Use something everyone can understand and then compare it to something from your world. The last line about clutching the scroll gives a simile, which tend to compare two things audiences are more familiar with to show a similarity they may not have noticed. But “clutching” gets the emotion across. If you wanted to introduce a scifi element, you might change it to include something from your world.
…he lowered his hand, clutching the scroll as if it were a bar of irrium.
Do you know what irrium is? Probably not, unless you know Vivian’s galaxy and know that it’s one of their currencies, and a bar is worth quite a bit. But can you guess that it’s something extremely precious? Definitely! So if you’re introducing new elements, show how they work through comparisons to things we know. Again, show, don’t tell.
Exceptions, because there always are
Sometimes, if something is totally unimportant to the story, telling is actually is what you want. As usual with rules, there are exceptions. If it doesn’t actually matter what a character feels, you can give a vague brushstroke telling and move on. Almost always, though, you want to do a little more than just summarize the information. You want to show it with specific, concrete details rooted in the physical world of the senses. Abstract terms like “happy” aren’t bad, per se, because they can absolutely be used in the context of showing, but you want to pair them with concretes as much as possible.
Crack those knuckles and get ready to show
Basically, this rule matters a lot. Like, a lot a lot. If you’re just telling a story, your audience will get a vague sense of what you’re saying, but they won’t be rooted in reality in any way and won’t have any concrete understanding of the characters or world. Everything will be fuzzy, and they’re unlikely to engage. Show them a story, however, and they’ll understand exactly what you mean. Engage your audience by actually describing the emotion or setting or character or whatever in physical, specific terms: Show, don’t tell.
Rule #7: Pay attention to the little details
I hope I don’t have to explain why things like word choice, spelling, grammar, and punctuation are important. When you write your first draft, it’s going to be riddled with errors. Accept this. Everyone does it. That’s what editing and proofreading are for. If you’re especially bad at these elements and don’t understand the rules well enough to fix them on your own, don’t feel bad about getting help.
Get by with a little help from your friends
If you use free help like friends or family, be aware of their level of expertise. And if you pay for a line editor or proofreader (the types of editors who do this type of editing), you need to know their expertise too. Ask for a sample. Most will do a few pages for free, and if they don’t, that’s a red flag. They might give you a sample of someone else’s work that they’ve edited, which is generally fine (no red flag there). See if you like the way they edit and how much they’re willing to do.
The very first editor I hired was a line editor. I didn’t know what that meant and had wanted a developmental editor, so there was my first disappointment. (Side note: developmental edits are big picture stuff, line edits are little details). But oh well, I can use line edits. Except… after the first couple of repeated mistakes, she just wrote “this is a consistent mistake, so please go through the manuscript fixing it.” That’s NOT what a line editor or proofreader should do! You’re paying them to edit, often a lot, so they need to mark and suggest fixes for every single error no matter how many times you make it.
I’m an English teacher, and I teach whole lessons on various elements of grammar. Commas and semicolons are my favs! But I definitely still make mistakes in my first drafts. Like, a lot. I tend to mess up on using commas between independent clauses, and when I get my manuscripts back from my editor, that mistake is marked on virtually every page, often multiple times. Now, I know the rules. My editor knows I know the rules, so they don’t try to teach me. I’m just bad at doing it in the first draft and catching it in my own writing. Give me someone else’s and I’ll catch virtually every mistake; in my own writing, I falter.
Basically, make sure you and your editor are a good fit, make sure they give enough feedback, and make sure you get what you pay for, whether free or paid.
Gonna try with a little help from your friends
First things first, you want to get as many basic errors out of your work as possible before you hand it over to anyone. This allows your editors and proofreaders, whoever they may be, to focus on the things that you can’t catch, plus many of them require rewording sentences. If you rewrite the sentence, you may introduce other errors, and if your editor doesn’t see that revised version, they won’t see that mistake. You’re not getting your money’s worth in that case! There are some tools that can help which I discuss on my own website listing writing resources. However, you want to watch out for certain things on your own that every writer does, and it’s great to address it first.
Personally, I keep a list of words and phrases that are either common to everyone or that I know for a fact I personally do. Luckily for you, I’m happy to share it! Before I give my manuscript to anyone, I go through the whole thing using the search feature for these (or variations). You can use the search engine of your choice for how to search your documents. It’s easier to search than read because it’s easy to get caught up in the story and miss stuff. I’ll explain as I go!
Filter words
Ah, the dreaded filter words. Don’t know what they are? I didn’t either until I started attending writers conferences and entered my graduate creative writing program.
Filter words are words that filter the character’s experience. Still confused? Here are some examples:
Felt, looked, saw, heard, realized, knew, wondered, watched, seemed
Why are these a problem? Well, they bog down your sentences and pull the audience away from the character and action. Let’s look at an example of the one I see most often: felt.
Bob felt his lips curve upward.
At first glance, we’re using specific, concrete details to show emotion. …Right? Well, sort of. The latter part is good, but that “felt” removes the audience. Let’s fix this in the easiest way.
Bob’s lips curved upward.
Can you see the difference? Now instead of us reading about what Bob feels, we the audience are experiencing it directly.
Okay, here’s two more super common ones that are often put together just to drive home why filter words are a problem:
Bob looked at the approaching dean and saw the woman’s warm smile.
Can you spot them? I hope so, since they’re from the list I just gave you! “Looked” and “saw.” Now, these might require a little more revision, and you might need to rearrange the sentence. Let’s look at it without the filter words.
The approaching dean smiled warmly.
SO MUCH BETTER. In your writing, you (almost) NEVER have to say that a character “looked.” We know they looked because you describe what they see! Similarly, you (almost) never have to say that a character “sees/saw” something because you’re describing it! These words add a filter to your story, and that’s exactly what you don’t want.
Now, there’s another kind of filter word that has to do with action. These again slow the action and pull the reader out, but not in the same way. Honestly, sometimes you might want these filter words. The two most common ones are “began” and “started.”
In almost every case, you don’t need these. Of course things began or started because we’re seeing what it is that began or started. Let’s look at an example, since that always helps! I’m going to switch from Bob to a very common one that I see (and that I’ve learned to avoid).
The sun began to rise over the horizon.
Do we really need to know that this is beginning? Can’t we just say
The sun rose over the horizon.
This is much more active and direct. We the audience are not experiencing the scene instead of being slowed down. Now, might it be relevant to include that it’s the beginning? Potentially, if something interrupts it.
The sun began to rise over the horizon when an eclipse blocked out its light.
There we have a case where it might make sense to specify that it’s the beginning. But wait! A simple restructuring can get rid of the filter word and work even better!
As the sun rose over the horizon, an eclipse blocked out its light.
Yeah, now that’s a good sentence! The fact that it happens at the beginning is implied, and really, does it need to be stated? Nope. Your audience is smart. They know this is at the start of the sun rising. So basically that “began” is never necessary, even if something happens at the very beginning of the action.
There are a lot of filter words, but you can use the list above to get rid of the main ones. If you do a search, make sure to look for variations (look/looks/looked, see/sees/saw, begin/begins/began/begun, etc).
Personal crutch words
Yeah, we all have them. Those little words we rely on when we can’t think of anything else. Some tend to be universal, some are specific to each individual. These are ones that I tend not to even notice until my editor starts pointing them out. The universal ones probably won’t surprise you:
Smile, shrug, sigh
Look familiar? Check your writing. You’re going to use these. In my post on showing emotions, I warn against your characters constantly smiling. I use it as a crutch when I want to show a character being happy, or maybe acknowledging something, or sometimes even as a fear response. Personally, I smile all the time, so it’s natural. But please don’t do this in your books. Make it interesting, and check that post for suggestions. Shrugging and sighing are the same.
The more personal ones are going to vary. In the second book in my series, Knight of the Dragon, my editor pointed out about a quarter of the way through that I was using “shivered” all the time. They marked every instance for me to address and… yeah, I overused it 😅 In book three, Heart of the Guardian, I was so careful to limit it, and I did! Yay! Victory, right? No… I had another crutch word, this time a little harder to reduce: “then.” But I worked hard, rearranged sentences, and tightened the language considerably.
I would say don’t worry about crutch words when you’re writing your first draft. They’re crutches because you rely on them to get you through the basics of your story. But when editing and proofreading, you need to address them. Sometimes it takes outside eyes to spot them, which is yet another reason why you need other people to read your work!
Get high with a little help from your friends
Wait… Uh, no, don’t get high while editing or proofreading. Okay, this idea to use Beatle’s lyrics as subheadings is backfiring. Pretend this never happened.
Rule #8: Be shameless 😏
When I was at the Pacific Northwest Writers Association conference a few years back, I went to a panel of romance authors and heard some of the best advice I’ve ever gotten: be shameless. This applies in all sorts of areas, but the one that had the most impact on me was to be shameless about what I love to write, about my interests, about the little things that interested me that I felt like no one else cared about. I’ve always been self-conscious about my writing, feeling that no one will ever want to read the weird little stories that I write, but this was one of the moments where I decided, “fuck my insecurities, I’m going to embrace what I love!” And I did.
I’m not going to talk about my romance novels here simply because I don’t want any of my students reading them, but I never told anyone that I wrote romance before that talk. I actually snuck to the talk so no one with me would see me go to a romance panel. After that, I had no problems telling people. If I love to write it, why should I be ashamed of it? There will be an audience for it somewhere. There will always be people with the same weird interests as you. So some of my best advice is simply to accept what you write and be proud of it, and never feel embarrassed or self-conscious about being a writer or what you write.
Now, I will add that there’s a huge difference between embracing your own voice and writing, and thinking that you’re the best at what you do. Ego is a huge problem for a lot of writers, and it’s something you want to avoid. Be shameless about being a writer, but be aware of the fact that your writing will always be improving. You’ll never reach perfection in any art, and writing is no different. If you start feeling too confident about your skills, you’ll tend to stall and stop improving.
The best idea you’ve ever heard
In addition to significantly hurting your writing, having too much ego also makes you a pain to be around. At writing conferences and on writing forums, you’ll see writers proudly talking about themselves, their ideas, and their writing as if they were the best thing ever. In almost every case, they’re not actually putting in the work. I can’t count the number of times people have approached me upon finding out that I’m a writer and told me that they have an incredible idea that would make the best novel ever made, a surefire blockbuster. I’ll ask if they’ve written it, or at least started on it. Inevitably, the answer is no. Frequently, the answer is no, and they want me to write it for them.
Let’s make one thing clear: everyone has amazing ideas. They aren’t unique in any way. The difference between a person with an amazing idea and a person with an amazing book is a person willing to put in the work. Great ideas don’t translate into great pieces of art on their own. Most people’s first books get tucked away unpublished–and this should be the case! Second books might be publishable with lots of editing. Then you might hit your stride and be able to write something halfway decent. Some people stop there, others continue to improve. If your first book had the most amazing idea you’ll ever have in your life, then after a decade or so, take it out, dust it off, and rewrite it from scratch, without using a single sentence from the first draft.
Being uNiQuE
One other huge problem I see is writers wanting to be unique or thinking that they are unique. Every story has already been told. At a base level, there is nothing new you can say or write. That’s just something to accept. But that shouldn’t depress you. People have told these stories before, but they haven’t been told by you! And your telling will be different in the words you choose, the combinations you have, the way you synthesize everything together. It will be unique because it’s yours, but not for any other reason. If you start thinking that one of your ideas is unique, take a step back. It’s not. But you can make it unique through your voice and the words on the page.
Write the damn book and be proud of it
So basically, be shameless about your passions and don’t hide what you do (unless there’s good reason). Embrace your interests. Pursue whatever weird fantasy or scifi things you want. But don’t start thinking that your ideas alone will give you a good book, and don’t start thinking that those ideas are unique. In all cases, it comes down to the writing. Ideas are a dime a dozen; writing the book is what matters. Once you have it on the page, then and only then can you talk about how great and unique you are. And even then, be realistic.
Rule #9: Take care of yourself
Okay, so I’ve given you tons of rules and advice on the things that you actually write, but what about you? You can’t write well if you don’t take care of yourself! This rule relates to everything about you and your relationship to writing, and I encourage you to treat yourself gently and with respect.
(Vivian: For only 9.95 a month we got a special self care writing package!)
Your style
One of the first things to learn about yourself when writing is to figure out how you prefer to write. Part of this is the software that you use. Microsoft Word is the classic, Google Docs is great, and I use both a lot. I use Google Docs to write this blog since it allows Vivian to work directly with me and we can cowrite things. However, for writing my novels, I use Scrivener, which is software that allows me to put things in different places with easy organization that lets me rearrange by dragging and dropping and keeps everything related to my project (character and world documents, for example) in one place. Since some of these cost money, do your research first, but you’ll find something that works for you!
Your setting is also important. I write in several different places, but my favorite way to work on my novels is to sit on a comfy armchair I have with my feet propped up, my cat curled up on my legs, and my iPad on my lap. The cat doesn’t always cooperate, of course, and will occasionally compete with my iPad for the lap. For this blog, I prefer to write at my desk, which I’ve tricked out with a really nice chair, very ergonomic keyboard and mouse tray, and of course a mat on the desk for my cat to sleep on (are you sensing a trend?). I work from home, so I do spend a little more on this setup than most people will. For you, try to find places where you can be relaxed and comfortable!
Finally, it helps to figure out where you fall on the scale from pantser to plotter, two terms that are commonly used in the writing community. Pantsers write by the seat of their pants with no forethought or planning, just letting the words come and things happen. Plotters like to plot everything out in advance. Most people, however, fall in the middle of this spectrum. Some people still use the pantser/plotter terms if they’re near that side, but a lot of people are what are called plantsers. Vivian falls into this category! (Vivian: I plan on key points that I need to reach and then pants my way from one to another.) I usually start my stories as a pantser and just GO without thinking, then about halfway through I stop, assess where I am and where I want to go, and turn a bit plantser.
Those are some things to consider as you get to know yourself as a writer! It’s very important to know your personal style to help you continue to write well.
Get Support
The best thing I can say to do is find people to write with. Join writers associations! Go to local meetups! There are plenty of online options as well as face to face, depending on your preference. The people in my writing circle are people that I’ve met online. I’ve actually never met any of them in person. I’m a member of several writing organizations, though a very shy one, but I’ve met great people.
At a writing conference in 2020 right at the start of the pandemic, I went to an online conference with the Pacific Northwest Writers Association (highly recommended group). They had little breakout rooms for critique groups, the theory being if you liked the people, you could keep in contact. Well, one of my breakout groups just clicked. Our most social member luckily got everyone’s contact info, and we started meeting. We added one person our social member met in another breakout room, and before long one of us dropped out. However, the four of us have been going strong meeting every three weeks ever since! They’re absolutely wonderful, and my writing has improved so much thanks to them.
However, the biggest thing that I would recommend is finding a writing partner. I’ve been blessed to find the best one ever in Vivian. Zhi is absolutely amazing. With a critique group, you’re focused on helping several other people, which is good, but having a personal, one-on-one connection is so necessary. I don't know how I did it before! Not only is zhi a great accountability partner (though currently failing in reminding me to work on my book!), I’ve learned a ton about worldbuilding from zhim, and my worlds have vastly improved as a result. We can talk to each other about our worlds, and we know each other's worlds and characters very well. Having the ability to say, “I have no clue how Alexander would react to this” and having Vivian immediately know how to help is invaluable.
Finding other people can be hard, and it means putting yourself out there, but it’s very, very worth it.
Pacing yourself
You’ve got your setup, you’ve got your support network, now the key thing to do to take care of yourself is to work at your own pace. Don’t compare yourself to others. Don’t think you absolutely have to write every single day. Some writers do, and some don’t. I don’t write every day, nor do I try to force myself to. But other people absolutely need to set up the writing habit in order to get anything done. I would say try to set something up where you write at a certain time every day, keep at it for a while, and determine for yourself if that works or not. Don’t worry if it doesn’t. And if you go months or even years without writing, don’t worry! You can always start again. Don’t give up. Don’t think you’re a failure. You can always start writing!
Deadlines tend to be a fact of life for many writers, and people treat them differently. If you’re reading this as a young person, I would say DO NOT PROCRASTINATE! Do things early! However, if you’re a little older, you’ve probably figured out how you deal with deadlines in your own way. I work best under pressure, and I’m never under pressure until the deadline looms, so procrastination actually helps me (young people, ignore this! Procrastination is bad!). (Vivian: See, I help her by NOT making her do sprints!) Vivian’s help is indeed invaluable in helping me put things off… and then forcing me to write for little 30 minute writing sprints until I’m done!
Do what works for you to keep up the writing habit comfortably, neither stressing out forcing yourself into arbitrary guidelines but also not relaxing to the point where you aren’t working. It’s a balance, but you want to avoid burnout.
Burnout
I’m only going to touch on this briefly, since I’m already writing way too much, but if you get to the point where you feel like you can’t write, or you hate writing, or it depresses you, or you just feel burnt out in some way, take a break. Again, you can take a break for months and years and it’s fine. Burnout is so common, and I see people trying to force through it and keep writing. All that will do is burn you out faster.
Again, taking care of yourself is a huge rule of writing. You want to keep yourself happy and healthy so that you can write to the best of your ability without more stress than necessary. There will of course be stressors, and you’ll have obstacles to overcome. Life can throw some nasty curveballs. But take care of yourself as you advance your writing career, and you’ll be a step up from a lot of writers.
Rule #10: Honor your story
(Vivian: No honah means seppuku!)
Yes, as Vivian says, a lack of honor in your story has dire results… But your story itself doesn’t have to be honorable! You just have to honor it in all its beauty and also ugliness. Maybe there won’t be any seppuku if you don’t honor your story, but it is a quiet death for your story. When you try to make your story something that it isn’t and you stop respecting what it is, you’ve lost the plot.
Identifying your story
If you’ve been following my other rules, especially the ones in Part I, then you should have some idea what makes up your story. Every story has something unique about it, some seed that sparks everything else. Sometimes it’s a character, maybe it’s the overall plot. When I write stories, it feels like I start with the spark of a single conflict, usually two characters meeting for the first time. As I develop that interaction, I begin to flesh out who exactly they are to be meeting like this and reacting to each other the way that they are, and from there I expand to other characters and the world and soon I have a whole cast of characters, multiple storylines, and, knowing my penchant for overwriting, I’ve now got at least a five book series on my hands. All from the spark of a single meeting.
As you write your stories (or edit or revise or even just read), try to identify that spark that sets things in motion and drives everything forward. It’s different for every story, and it’s not always something that the audience would pick out. But if you’re able to pull out that very small thread, then you can slowly tug at the entire story. If you honor that thread and strengthen it, then every part of your story will flourish. But if you pull at it, the whole thing could fall apart. So just think: what is it in my story that makes it what it is?
(Vivian: As Anne and I have learned in crocheting, pulling on a thread can unravel everything.)
Respecting your story
Once you’ve identified your story in some way, you want to build up the things that support that element and remove things that block it in some way. For example, in the Imperial Saga, one of the key inspirations I had when I started writing was the moment when Tahirah, as a child, is running through the castle with her mother until they’re surrounded by enemies. The intensity of the promise that her mother tells her to make–that she’ll survive–drives a lot of the action. The scene itself occurs through flashbacks, and it’s become a traumatic memory that continues to haunt Tahirah as a young adult. In addition, that promise is probably the largest driving force in Tahirah’s life, and thus in the story as well, since despite having several other characters and storylines, the Imperial Saga revolves around Tahirah.
When I’m brainstorming scenes, I’m constantly coming back to that scene and that promise. Does my new idea sharpen the emotions in that scene, heighten the drama around the promise, pile on more obstacles to survival? All of those things honor the core conflict. Now, as I said, I have other characters and storylines. One character who gets introduced in the fourth book in the series, Dance of the Empire, is a character that I absolutely love and have already written a spin off prequel about. Integrating him is a bit of a challenge because I want to focus on his story, but that wouldn’t honor the Imperial Saga, which is, for all intents and purposes, Tahirah’s story. You could easily argue that it’s also Ari’s story, and to a lesser extent Jana and Leena’s, but those are all similar stories. This new character is quite different, so I have to be careful to advance the ideas and scenes that honor the story I’m currently writing.
Showing your story respect means not veering from the core inspiration and what makes it unique. Everyone has their own unique way of doing things, and this shifts between stories as well. There are really two things to keep in mind as you write if you want to best honor your story. First, don’t put limitations on yourself or your story based on what you imagine will be the best for the market. You don’t honor your story if you’re catering to an audience that only exists in your head. Yes, those readers screaming for a girl-falls-in-love-with-sexy-but-misunderstood-vampire-but-the-other-vampires-refuse-to-accept-their-love book exist today, but you’re just imagining that they’ll still be there when your book comes out. Ground yourself in your own story and let your audience find you.
The second thing to keep in mind is that you need to be willing to go where your story needs you to go. Some stories have certain needs and structures to maximize their impact, and you should be willing to go there even if it doesn’t match with what you know or your other stories. I tend to write fairly “friendly” books, as in they would generally get rated “PG-13” or less if they were movies (Vivian: And I write on and off with gore stuff that will scar people's minds. I am very broken. The Internet broke me.). While I don’t think anything I could write is as terrible as what Vivian has the potential to do, I have a dark fantasy trilogy that is just… dark. Unrelentingly dark. I haven’t published it yet, and I might need a different pseudonym when I do just because I don’t want someone picking it up thinking it’s one of my usual books. (Vivian: Goranne Woundchell!) An excellent pseudonym! 😂 And even though it’s not my usual, that’s what the book required! I’m honoring the thread that ties the story together.
Once you start going off track, you might be fine for a while, sure, but sooner or later, you’re going to be in a mess. If that’s the case, go back and identify the thread that makes your story. Then, to use crochet parlance, you frog the shit out of it. (Vivian: Ribbit) In other words, you pull up and remove anything and everything until you reach the point where what you were writing was in tune with your story. It can hurt to have to cut a lot, and boy do I hate it when I have to frog a huge section of crochet, but in the end, it’s worth it.
Follow my rules
What’s the best way to honor your story? By following my rules, of course! Did you think anything else? Let’s just look at my wonderful rules for a moment. First, remember your audience. There’s a great way to honor your story! Who are you writing to? Does that match your story? I often get told that the Imperial Saga feels like young adult. That’s largely because I first imagined and wrote it as young adult. After developing the story and world, I had to adjust quite a bit, including the characters’ ages, so it’s no longer in the young adult category (to be young adult in today’s genre definitions, you need your protagonist to be eighteen or under). Despite this, it still reads like YA in terms of flow and style and also things like adult content. Could I completely strip the idea and put it in super gritty adults only format? Sure, but it would lose everything that makes it what it is! My audience is no longer simply young adults, but I have to honor that aspect of my story.
Okay, so honoring your audience matters, not the audience that you want, please note, but the audience that your story wants. I’d love to snip the YA strings and do straight adult, but it just isn’t the way the story works. Next rule? Structure, baby! Gosh, I really love narrative structure. But something similar happens here. You need to honor your story's structure. Can you change it? Absolutely! But make sure you don’t change it in a way that disrupts the pulsing heart at the center of things.
My third wonderful rule on characters and point of view should be obvious in terms of how to use this in honoring your story: honor the character(s) telling the story! If you have point of view slips, you’re dishonoring them! Don’t do it!
Okay, I’m realizing that I shouldn’t just go through every single rule. Basically, if you follow the various bits of advice that I’ve given throughout these rules, you’ll be honoring your story. That’s really why I give the advice. These are all little things that I’ve learned that help hone a story into its best form by honoring every aspect.
Follow your own rules
Did this subheading take you by surprise? Here I’ve been telling you all about how my rules are the best way to honor your story, and now I’m giving you agency? You seem to have forgotten Vivian’s rules! Zhir rules of worldbuilding offer quite a different perspective than these rules of writing, but we both treat rules the same way. Always follow the rules! But always have exceptions.
Honestly, if you have been following all of my rules so far, you’ve found places to add your own personal touch. I try to leave openings in my advice. But one of the best ways to honor your story is to honor yourself. Be true to yourself. As you develop as a writer, you want to make sure to learn healthy writing habits: structure, point of view, character development, writing style, editing, pacing, self-care, and more. All the things that I’ve talked about. But everyone is different. So as you learn these healthy writing habits, don’t be afraid to break them if it works for you.
Sometimes, finding your own rules of writing can be a wonderful way to grow as a writer and storyteller. Everyone has different priorities and strategies. Something I may say not to do might be exactly what works for you, and you know what? You should do that! My rules aren’t absolutes.
Just think back to Rule #0: Know the rules before you break the rules. I’ve given what I believe to be the ten most important things a writer should do. Learn them, use them, understand why I say that they are important, and then, if you have good cause, shatter them into pieces. Honor your story even if it means breaking rules.
Rule #11: Write with love
What’s this? An eleventh rule? Surely I must be mistaken! You must be thinking, “Anne, your brain got addled by splitting these rules in two posts!” But nope! There’s one more little tiny rule that overlays everything else. It’s implied in everything, but I want to say it clearly to make sure everyone knows it. And besides, as Vivian told me, eleven is within a 10% margin of error, which is pretty good!
For most people, writing is a passion. Even if you write for your career, it’s usually something that you enjoy, at least at first. If you despise writing and you plan on making writing your job, well, that’s your own issue. For most of us, it’s something we enjoy, or at least we have the potential to enjoy. Everyone has their bad days, of course, where we look at the page and curse the fates for making us writers. But in general, most writers like writing. You don’t want to forget that!
This is going to be a short rule (Vivian: HAH!) because while I think it is extremely important, it doesn’t take a lot of explanation. It didn’t make the top ten, but all of the top ten rely on you doing this. Your motivation in writing plays a huge role in every other aspect of your stories and personal relationship with writing, so make sure it’s a good motivation!
You’re going to have a lot of difficulties in your life as a writer whether you write for fun, for friends and family, you self publish, pursue traditional publishing, get a job writing, whatever. Following the other rules will help steer you in the right direction, but the most important thing to remember is to never lose the passion and joy that led you to writing in the first place.
It can be tempting to try to chase easy money when writing, whether it’s writing to the market or self publishing because you think it’s easier (...yeah, you’re in for an unpleasant surprise if so!). The chances that you’ll get rich off your writing are almost zero. The chances you’ll be able to use writing as your main source of income are quite low. Hell, the chances of doing better than breaking even aren’t nearly as good as you might think. If you’re writing to make money, you’re in the wrong business. Writing doesn’t make money, so don’t make that your primary goal.
Writing to the market will almost always fail because by the time you get it up, the market has already shifted. If you’re going to write, write because you love it. That passion will shine through. People will recognize that quality and be drawn to it. It’s easy to tell when an author just churns out books hoping one will hit the mark, or when they’ve lost their interest and are only writing out of habit. You want to write because you actually want to write.
Writing is something that can be painful, annoying, boring, and more, but under it all, you should love it. If you don’t, you’re likely in burnout to some extent, or in temporary circumstances that will resolve. Try to get back into that mindset where you’re writing for the pleasure of telling a story, building a world, creating characters, and just having fun.
Above all, write with love! (Vivian: And with Electric Boogaloo)
Summa Summarum Ultima
Let’s make this brief! These last five rules (plus a bonus rule for getting through everything!) really zero in on writing as an activity: showing through word choice, editing, confidence, self-care, honoring your story, and doing everything with love. When you combine them with the first five, all of which focus on the story itself, I think this gives us a comprehensive list of rules for writing. And you know me, I love comprehensive!
I hope you find these rules useful, and if you do decide to break any of them, I’d love to hear how and why in the comments! If you have anything you’ve found useful, or if you have any rules of your own, I’d love to hear those as well. As I mentioned in Rule #9, writing works best if you have support, so feel free to make this blog your support and engage with us about your writing!
As you finish reading this and attempt to recover from the firehose of information I just spewed at you, try to approach your writing with a new, loving perspective, and remember to have fun. And also remember that if at any point something isn’t working, then the only answer is…
Want to dive into a discussion about Stellima or the art of writing on Discord? We’d love to have you! And if you have any topics you struggle with or that you would like to suggest for a future blogpost, we’re open to suggestions!
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Copyright ©️ 2024 Anne Winchell. Original ideas belong to the respective authors. These rules and the concepts behind them are copyrighted under Creative Commons with attribution, and any derivatives must also be Creative Commons. We encourage you to refer to these rules and use them in your own writing with attribution under Creative Commons! However, specific ideas such as the Imperial Saga and all of the characters and events within the series plus all language or exact phrasing of this article are individually copyrighted by the respective authors. Contact them for information on usage and questions if uncertain what falls under Creative Commons. We’re almost always happy to give permission. Please contact the authors through this website’s contact page.
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