Every writer seems to love to talk about writing rules: all encompassing, unbreakable rules on how to be a good writer. Every author teaching a class, holding a seminar, publishing a book on writing, or offering a workshop has a set of them; every aspiring writer touts someone's rules, whether on forums, in critiques of other's works, whatever. So, since I've spent a great deal of time over the years studying all these rules, I thought I'd consolidate them all into my own comprehensive, all encompassing, categorically final set of writing rules. Here we go:
#1: A writer must write.
Duh, right? If you don't write, you're not a writer. You're someone that wants to have written.
That's the basic rule, but it's more than that. If you want to be a better writer, you have to keep writing. It's practice. It's not the only way to get better; however, it is the essential way to improve.
#2: A writer must read.
This isn't rule #1 because, technically, you have to have written something to be a writer. However, I feel that apart from this technicality, reading could potentially be rule #1. It's the starting point. Has there ever been a writer that wasn't a reader first? (Besides maybe that first guy a long, long time ago. Someone had to be first, right?) It's how you keep up with the field, how you make sure you're not copying or being derivative, and it's a great way to get inspired. It's how you learn most of your tricks; it's how you consciously or subconsciously soak up all the fundamental rules of structure and language that you use in your own writing. I think it's how you find your style, or how you remind yourself what you want your style to be.
#3: Everything else is just a suggestion. You have to discover what works for you.
I think this is really important for a beginning writer. Too many people that offer instruction or advise to new writers propound their system as the only way to write, and I think that's dangerous. A beginning writer needs to realize that a lot of what is offered may not work for them. For example, look at Stephen King's On Writing. According to that book, discovery writing is the only way to go. Mr. King's opinions about writing (and most everything else) are very strong, and reading that book, you're left with the impression that is the only way you should do things. Tell that to Brandon Sanderson, who if you listen to Writing Excuses or watch his lectures online, is almost purely an outline writer. I'm not comparing the success of the two authors' book sales, or the longevity of their careers. I'm speaking only of their processes. If I'd read On Writing and thought that was the only way I could write, I'd be extremely frustrated as a writer now, because I've found that my writing process is very similar to Mr. Sanderson's. I started as a discovery writer, a long time ago. And I never finished anything back then.
A lot of these writing 'Instructors' use phrases like I've used in the first 2 rules: 'a writer must...' A beginning writer reads this, or hears this, looks at the person saying it and how successful they are, and thinks that must be the only way. But, when you start to compare the multiple sources, you eventually find that what Instructor A says you must do is polar opposite of what Instructor B says. They're both successful authors, so who's right? Most likely: Neither and Both. Both are right because they are offering helpful tips to beginning writers. Both are wrong because they are propounding that advise as the end-all-be-all of the writing process. This is why I recommend Writing Excuses. (Forget Howard's insistence on pronouncing the 'h' in every wh- word like Andy Samberg in Hot Rod.) They do a great job of consistently offering alternatives and pointing out that what works for one author may not work for another. When they present discovery writing, they usually talk about the process for an outliner as well.
So, that's my version of the fundamental rules of writing. I'm sure plenty of people will think I'm full of shit, not having published any fiction myself to date and all (I know: the gall! Right?), and a lot of them will be able to point to their own Bible of rules for writers (just $19.99!). Just remember, when you pick it up, it might not work for you. And that's OK.
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