I read a lot of blogs about writing.

Something I’ve grown really tired of is the “how to be a writer” blog – as if this is something that can be conveyed in a few paragraphs. It isn’t that I don’t think there are aspects of writing that can be taught. I’ve taken writing classes and found them beneficial. But a one-size-fits-all list of dos and don’ts that you stumble across on the internet is something to be skeptical of.

If there are rules, they apply to everyone differently, depending on your audience and your specific writing goals.

How many times have you been warned not to use adverbs?

Tell that to JK Rowling. Or better: don’t. Adverbs have their place as does every other bit of language. A better suggestion would be to use all your words consciously, to understand where the rule came from and break it with that knowledge.

But even that makes me uncomfortable. It ignores the fact that there are writers with natural talent who don’t need to know the why of it.

The reason I love hearing writers speak about their particular writing process is that they all have something different to say. Some of them plot it out on color coded note cards before they type a word while others have no idea where the story is going and swear their characters battle them for control. Some have MFAs and others no formal training. Some write several titles a year; others leave one perfect book as their life’s work.

There are many different ways to be a writer. If you’re seeking commercial success, there are certain formulas for certain genres. There are rules for spelling and grammar, but even some of the rules about commas are flexible. Tense and point of view should probably be consistent. (Real anti-rulers are calling me a hypocrite for adding that.) But learning to “drop these seven words” won’t make you a writer. It’s just not that easy.

If you think I’ve just written a blog on “how to be a writer,” you may have a point. That’s the problem with giving advice to ignore advice. But maybe that’s not what I’m saying.

Don’t ignore it; just don’t take it as gospel. Don’t let it subvert your own writer’s instinct.

I think you should be very critical of the writing advice you take, including mine.

Katie78.

I have been reading quite a few threads on this forum and have never felt the urge to respond. However, your comment here is worthy of being blasted to the world.

Your opinion reminded me of a time when I was about to become a father. Of course, I was nervous and I took to the internet to 'learn' as much as I could about a life that was about to hit me head on. I read and I read and most of the articles that I consumed were titled something like, 'how to cope as a father' or 'how to survive as a parent', etc, etc. Without going into too much gory detail - those articles had me running for the hills and crying FOUL; horrific thoughts of being unable to cope, of being labelled the worst father in the world and of bringing up a kid that would be inept, ill, deformed, deranged and damaged - all because of my parental inabilities. But ten years on I think I did (am doing) okay.

Imagine this with writing. All the supposed experts are shouting out 'do it this way', 'do it that way' but who are they? In my opinion, although I must admit that I am just starting out, writing is about style, about personal feeling and most particularly about 'voice'. Take away a writers voice and the raw enthusiasm is gone, the individual style and character is dampened and what is left is a shell that conforms to protocol. Is that what readers want?

In my opinion there are NO RULES in writing. To be successful is not about following defined or set rules but about people reading a book and enjoying it. So, it becomes the writers job to write something that readers will enjoy regardless of how it is written. 

Here, I be much right about this. You write gracefully watever you wanna, and i'll be some reading and avidly consumin what you ave done. See?

So thank you for a well written and extremely apt post.

Just one last comment which ties in with your last sentence. I am of the opinion that 'a writer worth his salt should not be sprouting advice although like myself, many like to hear the sound of their own voice'.

--edited by katie78 on 8/21/2015, 1:57 PM--

My problem is, what works for me doesn't work for a lot of other folks. A few comments I've taken very seriously. Most, not so much. I please myself. Fifty-plus years of wide reading give me some sense of what works. I do consider my writing to be literary, which gives you more freedom. I refer to my plot as my so-called plot. I'm pretending to tell a story (with a resolution). What I'm really doing is screwing around.

--edited by Mimi Speike on 8/21/2015, 2:41 PM--

Hi Katie,

Really nice to see you over here...the start of a new stage of an old journey.

TSWS

Bad Napkin

I use this quote whenever rules for writing are considered.

"There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately no one knows what they are."  W. Somerset Maugham