Writing Rules

Every day I see posts online expounding on the "rules" of writing. The rules you need to follow if you're going to be a writer, if you want to be a good writer, if you want to publish. Every expert has something slightly different to tell you - some of their rules may cross over between them, but their lists are different. At the base of it, their lists are just what works for them. Their rules are the things that worked for them, the guidelines they used while writing.

Writing: Characters give us a peek into who they are. We form bonds. #amwriting #amediting pic.twitter.com/OqJ0w7PGTl

— Writing & Editing (@WrtrStat) October 27, 2017

But here's the thing...

Each writer is different. Each one of us has our own methods, our own system - to put it simple, we have our own way. What works for one writer won't necessarily work for another. I guess there's something to the saying "You do you."

I think there is one thing that stands for every writer though, one overarching rule for us all:

Write every day. That simple.

Write. Every. Day.

What are some rules you have? Or ones you follow?

The Next Step of The Journey

We write. We read. We edit and re-write. We re-read and then edit and re-write again.

We authors do everything in our power to make our manuscripts the very best that they can be.

We try to eliminate typos and grammatical errors. We strive to ensure that John doesn’t mysteriously become Desmond, only to turn back in to John. We push ourselves to ensure that the timeline of our back-story doesn’t clash (or *gasp* contradict) with the timeline of the rest of our story.

We do all of these things but we are human and we still make mistakes.
 

So we employ, beg, or plead for beta-readers and editors. Those people who are going to read our stories and tell us what works and what doesn’t. Those individuals who we trust to rip our precious babies apart and then help us put them back together and make them (hopefully) better. The like-minded peeps who look for all the nitpicky errors of people, place and thing, and actually enjoy telling us when we’ve done something wrong. They are the men and women who are going to say to us “why?” and “no, just no” and even “WTF is going on with this?”

These people are in many ways our guardian angels, our saviors, our own personal heroes.