THE RULES OF WRITING. ARE THEY REAL?

Down through the years I’ve been approached by several people who told me they believe they’re supposed to write a book. And on occasion, I’ve even heard that “God told me to write a book.” My hope is that God also told them to learn how to write. When God called me, I had no idea I’d have to study for months and months to learn the craft of writing. When I taught writing classes, I asked my students if they would allow someone to operate on them who felt they “were called to be a surgeon,” but didn’t actually go to medical school. Unanimously, the answer was no! Writing may not require as much training as surgery, but the concept holds. Once I began to study earnestly, I ran into something called the “rules of writing.” For example, Elmore Leonard proclaimed that there are ten rules of writing. They are:

1. Never open a book with weather.
2. Avoid prologues.
3. Never use a verb other than “said” to carry dialogue.
4. Never use an adverb to modify the verb “said” …
5. Keep your exclamation points under control.
6. Never use the words “suddenly” or “all hell broke loose.”
7. Use regional dialect, patois, sparingly.
8. Avoid detailed descriptions of characters.
9. Don’t go into great detail describing places and things.
10. Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip.

Chapter one in my soon to be released book, DARK DESIGN, contains this:

It was a cold and rainy night. Alex Caine stared at himself in the mirror. He looked as tired as he felt. His hazel eyes narrowed as he gazed at his chiseled features. His dark hair was beginning to gray and needed to be cut.

Erin Delaney stared at the words on the first page of her novel and laughed quietly. “Never open with weather,” she said under her breath. “Never describe a character by having him look in a mirror.” She sighed loudly. “How many other writerly taboos can I break?”

Although I’m actually poking fun at these rules, in reality, I do try to follow some of them. However, I’ve learned down through the years that just because someone makes up a rule, the rest of us don’t have to follow it. Even if the rule was created by the illustrious Elmore Leonard. For example, anyone who reads my books knows that I’m very fond of prologues. Why? Because if handled correctly, I believe they can set up tension from the very first page. I usually give my readers a peek into the mind of my “bad guy” so they can be on the lookout for him…or her…as the story unfolds.

Also, for the life of me, I can’t begin to understand how starting off with weather can hurt a story if you do it right. I mean, don’t describe the weather just for the sake of it, but what if it’s dark outside and a lightning strike reveals a body lying on the ground? I’m sure you can come up with other situations where weather can be used to create atmosphere and tension.

To keep this short, here are the rules I do try to follow: Keep your exclamation points under control!!! I use them quite a bit in emails and Facebook posts but rarely in my books. Why? Because I believe if the dialogue is right, and you successfully show your character’s reaction to a situation, they’re unnecessary. I also believe that we should use regional dialect, patois, sparingly because you can weigh down your story when trying to describe the way a character speaks A couple of well-placed words will help your readers to “hear” different dialects and accents themselves. Their imagination will take over beautifully. This works like the next two rules: Avoid detailed descriptions of characters, and don’t go into great detail describing places and things. I like to give my readers hints and let them create their own surroundings and characters. The cover of a book I wrote a long time ago upset a reader because she was convinced the character didn’t look like the depiction used by the cover designer. She had her own vision of my protagonist and didn’t like seeing something that didn’t match her concept. And that’s good! She used her imagination to “see” my character. This makes a story more personal and shows that the reader has connected to the book. Oh, and the last rule I attempt to follow? Try to leave out the part that readers tend to skip. This is the hardest rule to obey since we writers have no idea what you’re skipping. Something that is extremely interesting to me may bore you to tears.

I could blither on about how I don’t agree with only using “said” as a dialogue tag, but I won’t. I’m trying to leave out the part you might tend to skip. 😁

But…don’t skip this. Leave a comment, and you could win an eBook copy of DARK DESIGN when it comes out!!! (Just had to add some more exclamation marks!!!)

You can preorder DARK DESIGN from Baker Book House for 40% off!