We all know those basic “rules” of writing. The ones you’re told “Oh, you don’t have to do that” but you try to anyways.
What if I told you that you don’t have to follow them? That someone has tested and proven that you can write well–dare I say better–when breaking them.
Well today I’d like to share some of those rules I don’t follow.
Don’t Share Your WIP Before the First Draft is Done
Naw bro. I jump at the opportunity to share my writing any time, any place. I thrive off of people’s compliments and when they respond with suggestions, it boosts my creativity and makes me want to write.
But this comes at a cost as it causes me to break another “important ‘rule’”.
Don’t Edit as You Go
I don’t do this as much anymore, but while I was apart of The Young Writers Workshop (Ydubs), I was in this amazing group called a critique group. And as the name gives away, people are reading your work and giving feedback on it. So naturally I would polish my work before giving it to them and then use their suggestions to do another edit afterwards.
Try Avoiding Prologues
I searched “writing rules” to see what would come up and this one really surprised me because a lot of my favourite books have prologues. And I have a lot of favourite books;)
The source says that prologues are distracting and the information can be added elsewhere and while that may be true in some cases, it’s not in others.
My prologue couldn’t be inserted just anywhere in the story because it’s important for setting up the rest of the novel.
And from that little (Give me a word to describe what it was cuz y’all know my brain is lacking sometimes), I’m sure you understand I love prologues. They’re one of my favourite writing tools. Love ‘em so much I put them in all my WIPs;)
Only Use “Said” As an Action Beat
There are two sides to this.
The people who say always use said and those who say never use said.
I fall somewhere in the middle. It kills me to use said every. Single. Time. but there’s also a time and place that it’s the only word that really works.
It’s really just what you prefer and people are going to disagree with you either way.
Conclusion
There are lots of opinions on how you should and shouldn’t write. But remember that at the end of the day, what matters isn’t how you write but that you’re writing.
What writing “rules” do you break?
I completely agree with what you said about “said.” The early episodes of DLTDGB mostly follow the never use “said” rule, but now I tend to be somewhere in between.
The in between is the best place to be:)
Confession. I break writing rules literally all the time. XD I DEFINITELY break the don’t share the first draft of you WIP before it’s done with like every single book because I get way too excited for someone to read it. 😉 I think often times authors get caught up in the rules and structure of writing that we tend to forget it’s still an art and we should be allowed to get creative and break rules when it suits the story to do so. Awesome post, Tasha!
YES! You want to share that work of art you’re working so hard on, not keep it secret until you finish!! Yeah, we definitely do:) Thanks for reading!