— Mark Paxson
Audrey Driscoll writes some great stuff about writing. Her latest is about rules and an experiment she ran. Go read her post to see what it was.
One of the things that bothers me about all of these social media “conversations” about the rules of writing is that I wonder if anybody actually reads a story with the “rules” in mind. I don’t. Of course, that may be because I don’t believe in the “rules,” but still I read a story for the enjoyment of it, for the escape it provides. While I’m reading something, I’m not paying attention to sentence structure or word choice or the use of adverbs. I’m just reading the story.
Isn’t that what a writer’s objective should be? Isn’t that also a reader’s objective? To fall into the story and stay there until the end. I don’t know of any rule I’ve heard of that would necessarily help me with that as a reader.
Yes, there are certain things that can cause me to lose interest in a story. I think my two biggest pet peeves are (a) too much description; and (b) too many characters introduced too quickly. Either of those two things can pull me out of a story pretty quickly. The first because I get bored by description and the second because it just gets too confusing too quickly. But for the rest of it … I want to read the story the way the writer wanted to tell it.
Meanwhile, a while back I saw list of Kurt Vonnegut’s rules of writing:
- Never use a metaphor, simile, or other figure of speech which you are used to seeing in print. (My note: the old, avoid cliches nonsense.)
- Never use a long word where a short one will do.
- If it is possible to cut a word out, always cut it out.
- Never use the passive where you can use the active.
- Never use a foreign phrase, a scientific word, or a jargon word if you can think of an everyday English equivalent.
- Break any of these rules sooner than say anything outright barbarous.
After I saw this list, I came across a completely different list that purported to be Vonnegut’s rules for writing. So, who knows? Maybe this is all BS and Vonnegut never said any of these.
Here’ is my question … do any of you think about things like this while you’re writing? I’ll be honest. I almost never do. Yes, occasionally, I decide something is too cliched, but frequently decide not to change it because if something is commonplace than it can connect to a reader more easily. Not everything in every story has to be creative and uniquely yours.
And yes, particularly when I’m editing something, I may look for words that can be cut out to make my sentences less wordy.
But I just don’t see how I could ever keep all of these things, rules, in my mind while I’m writing or even while I’m editing. The whole process would take even longer than it already does if I had to think about all of these things.
At the end of the day, what I do is … just write. I’m curious though to hear what the process looks like for people who are more concerned with these types of issues.
Which leads me to another rule, but one for publishing rather than writing. Trigger warnings. I feel like we’ve discussed this before here, but I saw this post on the topic and found it as spot on as possible on this topic.
I worked on putting together an anthology recently. One of the writers wanted a trigger warning for her story because it involved a suicide. The only problem is that the suicide was essentially the end of story reveal. I talked her out of it for that reason and suggested that, if the anthology got published, we could have a generic trigger warning for the entire anthology. Due to the theme for the collection, most stories, if not all, were going to be a bit dark.
Other writers involved in the project were dead set against any kind trigger warning. I side with them. Part of reading is the discovery and it is fiction, so none of it is real. I don’t want to discount the very real trauma people experience and can experience in reading a story, but I’m with the author of that blog post. The genre of a story, the blurb of the story, and other aspects of the book will give, or should give, enough of a clue about the content for most readers, and as writers our job isn’t to hold a reader’s hand as they read. It is to tell them a story, that at times can be unsettling.
Writers Supporting Writers 
Just some gut responses (I’m pressed for time)…
Rules:
Honestly, if it weren’t for social media, most of us would give zero thought to these “rules” outside of what we learned in school, writing classes, and or Strunk & White, etc. I also am 99% certain the people who post these “rules” are looking to boost engagement numbers or just provoke fellow authors because they’re bored (or as a strategy for the former reason). I’m as tired as seeing them as I am seeing tedious posts by other authors, doing so for the same reasons with oft-repeated, bland questions (“Do you prefer to write in first person or third?”, “What is your MC’s favorite color?”, “Where is your favorite place to write?”) where these posters never, ever reply to people’s responses.
My simple take on “rules” is the ones which are offered up by people who have been in the field for a while, are worth considering for what they are, opinions based on their personal experiences. In many cases, they might work well, but not all. Art never has had a one-size fits all rulebook and art is always changing, often by breaking said rulebook. So, listen, analyze, decide.
I throw many rules when I write dialogue. I have posted and responded in interviews that if you ever take the time to write down, syllable by syllable, what people say in dialogue you may see rules of its own, but rarely the ones which are listed for the written word.
Triggers: If someone (e.g. editor, beta reader) suggested I add specific trigger warnings, I’d probably shrug and add them if it helps. If someone doesn’t want to read something I wrote because I included trigger warnings, they have personal issues which go way beyond my scribblings.
I get your point regarding giving away an ending – that could be a difficult decision. It will really come down to the specific story and, if you are the only author, your preference. For instance, I read a book about five years ago about three teens and there was some indication (somewhere) of a suicide. As I read, I realized it could have been any of the three, but in the final chapter it turned out to be a fourth person in their circle and it came as a surprise. But posting trigger warnings for the anthology (inclusive) wouldn’t have the same issue. You don’t need to indicate which story needs which warning – much the same as a series’ trigger warnings which aren’t specific to an episode.
So, it really comes down to the author and the story. Yet, I do feel in a group anthology if someone has a concern, slap one on for the lot (“Please note, some of the stories within contain passages related to suicide, drug use, and sexual assault.” – or whatever they may contain.)
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Regarding those who talk about the rules … While I agree with you that a lot of this is just social media madness, I also think there are those writers who need rules and structure to figure out how to do what they want to do. Some people just aren’t comfortable with the real freedom you can have when you try to create something of your own.
Regarding dialogue … yes!!! I think I’ve told this story. My mom used to edit my first efforts at fiction writing. After seeing her edits on my first novel, whenever I gave her another story to read and edit, I had to tell her, “Mom, don’t edit the dialogue. People do not speak grammatically correct. So, just leave the dialogue alone.” You see, my mother decades later would talk about the high school English teacher that drilled the “rules” into her and she struggled with letting go of them. But she did stop editing my dialogue.
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One other thing … your comment about people who post questions like “what is your MC’s favorite color?” There is a music journalist, Eric Alper, who regularly tweets questions out about music and bands … similar to the examples you provided. He gets hundreds of responses and doesn’t interact with any of those responding. Which just begs the question … why is he asking those questions?
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Case in point for why I bailed out of Twitter about a year ago.
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How about these rules?
#1 Never make a universal writing rule.
#2 Never foist your self-proclaimed writing expertise on gullible writers.
For writers in the line of fire for these proclamations from on high, I would recommend applying the reference librarians’ CRAAP test for credibility of sources. https://guides.lib.uchicago.edu/c.php?g=1241077&p=9082343
In many, many cases, the rules will fail P of the CRAAP test (the purpose for which the information is provided, which is a freelance editor trying to drum up business). The fundamental problem is that this advice is telling beginning writers (and advanced writers, for that matter) to ask the wrong question.
The relevant question isn’t, Have I broken any of “the rules”? The relevant question is, How do I want the reader to experience this paragraph/scene/chapter, and have I done everything I can to give them that experience? The only point at which that question can be answered with any validity is after an initial draft is completed.
I didn’t mean to rant, but your post triggered teacher brain.
Speaking of triggers, I agree with Janny’s and your position on trigger warnings. It reminds me of something I read a while ago in the same vein, which said that parents of my generation (Baby Boomer) and earlier generations taught their children how to navigate an unsafe world safely–whereas the current thinking is that everyone must make the world safe for their children.
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Rant away!!! Here’s how stunted my education is as a writer. High school English class in which each essay had to have an introductory paragraph, three paragraphs in the body, and a concluding paragraph. That really is all that I remember from high school English and why I so detest the idea of most of what passes for teaching writing.
I like your formulation .. how do I want the reader to experience what I’m writing. That’s what matters and should be the only thing that matters.
And I agree, some of this trigger warning stuff is coming from kids who were raised to be much more fragile than we were. And I’ll just leave it at that. 😉
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Oh, no, not the dreaded five-paragraph essay!!! At one point, the writing process teachers got rid of the cursed thing–then it rose from the dead as a zombie, thanks to No Child Left Behind, which set K-12 education back decades.
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I absolutely hated writing back then, and there is a reason for it. Which seems really odd since my last two years of high school I was on the newspaper staff and considered majoring in journalism. (Yes, I probably should have got some therapy back then.)
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I’ll bet writing for the newspaper wasn’t as painful as being forced to write a five-paragraph essay.
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One more thing … as Richard points out in his comment, a lot of this about rules is just coming from people who want to stir the pot, or try to demonstrate their superiority, or some other nonsense.
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That would be the writing workshop effect.
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Great points, Liz, especially the reminder of the CRAAP test! And that is a useful question for writers to ask themselves when evaluating something they’ve written. Much better than “rules.”
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All rules fall upon a spectrum. And we all have different reader spectrums. Mine is hyper-tuned against passive voice, adverbs, bad dialogue/tags, authorial tone, among others. So yes, I read with an editor’s hat poised rakishly upon my head. To my detriment, I’m sure.
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You should checkout Elmore Leonard’s rules, more useful.
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I suspect that when established/famous authors are asked for writing rules, they make something up that sounds good. After all, that’s what writers do. Those rules are sort of like advice from the 100 year old person about how to live a long time.
As for Elmore Leonard’s rules, they’re fine if you’re writing in the same genres as he, maybe not so useful for others.
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What’s the key to living to 100? Don’t die along the way.
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Thanks for the mention, Mark!
I’m looking forward to discussing Vonnegut’s rules in our next chat. It seems the ones you listed above are more practical than the other set.
As for trigger warnings, I think the book description should convey the tone of the book. Saying it’s dark, grim, violent, and shocking should be enough of a warning without getting into spoiler-ish specifics. But we live in litigious times; has anyone ever sued an author or publisher for trauma from reading something?
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I’m not sure we will be talking about the Vonnegut rules. I’m working on something else. 😉
And yes, I agree, the blurb should be able to communicate content without giving anything away.
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My lucky ‘day’ (allegorically, or subjectively speaking). Two thoughtful and motivating posts on the subject of writing.
I’d never come across Vonnegut’s rules before and am thankful for Rule 6 because the rest have bound to have been broken in my endeavours.
One thing about being a dedicated extreme Pantser (notebooks? No, sorry don’t work for me) is that writing tends to drive a large vehicle at fast speed through rule books, for better or for worse.
For me it’s trying to make sure the plot does not get lost with all the fun the characters are having when they get hold of the narrative. Another issue for me, I am but a conveyance for my characters who take charge quite early one.
Thanks for a very interesting post, lots to think about.
As a final thought. Generic triggers are the best option ‘ The reader may find themes or instances which could be viewed as upsetting’ approach will resonate with a reader and leave them to judge if they wish to proceed further.
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Yes … I think Rule #6 makes clear that the whole thing is a bit tongue in cheek.
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I agree. Never try and second-guess Vonnegut.
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