Personal Writing Rules

Post Reply New Topic

What rules do you adhere to in your writing? Simple Question.

For me, I personally make it a rule for myself to not use a single number in my writing. Using numbers means you are getting into too much detail and not much into the plot. I use these words instead: "a", "an", "the", "a couple", "a few", "many", "several", "multiple", "on and on."

Avoid redundancy and repetition.

never think about the ending when you start a story;
have the surroundings pictured in a detailed way even if you're not going to write about them;
know the whole life story of the characters even if you're not going to mention it at all;
write systematically;
avoid repetitions;
try not to copy others (on conciuos level);

When setting a stage, try to include more than just what it looks like. Use some of the other senses to describe how the environment feels to the character.

Make a story board. Try to develop rising and falling action that shapes the climax. Have an idea about the plot. Maybe try to incorporate a subtle message with your story and characters (ex: Gulliver's Travels. Many lessons surrounding life.).

Also, keep sentences simple when applicable to avoid confusing the reader, and always remember to have flow between sentences and paragraphs. A paragraph should represent one idea or thought, even if it is just one word (my senior year English teacher hated the concept of power paragraphs, but this is probably going too close to essay writing anyway).

Always make an outline for your writing. Makes me write and revise better than if I just write without one.

Also, use sentence variety in writing. Makes the piece more interesting.

Chord progressions must be as weird as possible.

Write about things that interest you.

Don't use a character's name repetitively; use words like "he", "she", etc instead.

When writing a description, don't use the same adjective twice unless necessary; use synonyms like replacing "sparkling" with "dazzling", "glittering", "shining", etc.

Don't include lots of random stuff in the story for the sake of making it longer; it must all move the plot forward in some way.

That's about all I can think of now.

In fiction:

The characters run the story. Do not force a character to do something out of it's nature. Feel free to throw any curves in the circumstances, though.

That's really my only rule.

Tell me about it! I was writing a love story between a man and a woman when my main male character turned gay and got into a relationship with the woman's brother. So I stopped writing the novel, because the woman was left out, and she was my main character.

Vary sentence length. When the same sentence structure keeps repeating, the reading becomes monotonous, like anything else that keeps repeating.

Have mercy on the poor reader. Remember that it's perfectly okay to start a new paragraph now and then. It's hard to be drawn into a page of text that visually resembles a concrete wall.

Don't try to make yourself sound intelligent by showing off the obscure words in your vocabulary. It won't work.

Throwing in a few sensory details works like spices in cooking. Not enough and it's flavorless; too much and the reader can't keep track of anything else.

My personal rules include, but are not limited to, the following:

* Forget what your postmodern teacher taught you about ambiguities and language plays. To write successfully, you must always be clear. If your reader can't understand you, you're doing it wrong.

* Think of how you like books to be written. Think of how you would like your favorite authors to write your book. Think of how you would prefer your words to appear when printed. Then write that way. What I mean with this is: write the books you'd like to find in a bookstore and buy on first sight.

* Read and reread your text. Any obstacle or interruption in the flow of sentences must be eradicated. Any jagged end must be smoothed. Any clumsy sounding word must be replaced. Be as implacable as possible.

* If you can't resist the urge to show off how knowledgeable or talented you are, do it in such a way that the reader won't notice you're just showing off. Be smart, but with elegance.

-Don't get bogged down in details.
-Not everything needs to be explained.
-Leave a little bit out, though not too much.

-Character's have "jobs," let them do their work without interference!

-Just plain write. Even if it's horrid. If there was a spark, preserve it and give it good treatment when time becomes available.

-Write mostly in active voice. Keep good form when using passive voice.

-Fix punctuation! Eliminate comma splices!

I am far from an expert with writing in regards to puncutation and grammar. I get words mixed up, like I will say this word for years thinking I know what it means and I find out it doesn't mean anything of what I thought Some of my friends say I am talented at writing songs and poetry. I have one friend who use to work for a magazine, like editing and she say's "I've got it". I said "but I really am not that good with english" and she goes "go back to school then and make sure I do."
I havn't gone back to school. I can't cope with the maths side. Everything seems to be having to think like maths. Seriously, I find it depressing.

Depends on what I am trying to write.

1) blog entry = mixture of facts about whatever place/band/newsfact/sportsteam I would be writing on, combined with personal opinions and personal earlier exposure or experience. Written from a very personal point of view where I try to focus on both the facts and my own experience.

2) article in a more journalistic way = mainly focusing on facts, possibly with some personal opinions in it but without making those at the forefront. Trying to focus on facts, not so much on personal experiences, avoiding the use of too many personal events or "I" forms. When writing about music, including lyrics samples to awake interest from the reader, when writing about any other subject (eg travel, politics) adding some historical background facts.

3) poem = I try to always stick to meaningful subjects (eg human rights, politics) and avoid more personal themes, with a very few exceptions. Metaphorical words choice is something I always do, as this forces the audience to think and read between the lines, and when thinking they will also undeliberately form their opinion on the subject I am trying to put in the limelight.
NOTE: not publishing any poems as for now, keeping them stored for later usage, so don't ask. I will use them at some point, but need to start some bigger arts project first before I am willing to expose them.

Be humble. Be facetious. Develop conceivable individuals in your characters. Keep it unique without trying, and keep it true to your own self. A largely passed-around tip to writers is to write about what effects you: if you feel forever victimised as many aspergic and autistic people do, keep it somewhat Kafkaesque; if you find solace in a particular place, base it around there. However, I didn't perform nearly as well as I was told to and was quite put down for my writing whilst doing my English GCSE, so try not to take anything from me.