cool and unusual punishment

Sixty-Three Rules For Writing

I have been incredibly writer's blocked over the past few weeks and I've devised some rules to guide my pursuits as I head into NaNoWriMo. If this helps you, good, if you disagree with them, that is absolutely your prerogative. Writing is very subjective! I also don't believe in ultimatums. Often. Some of them are strongly worded and I don't necessarily abide by all of them... that isn't to say I'm ignoring them, but rather that I'm a work in progress as an author and I'm working my way into a more professional mindset regarding my craft. (I have attached some explanations for some in the form of comments.)  Please, if you think any of these are REALLY off the mark, argue with me about it! I'd love to instigate civil discussion. 

---CHRONA'S SIXTY THREE RULES (Tips) FOR WRITING---

1. Characters are the heart of the story. 

2. There is not and never will be shame in drawing characters and worlds from your own life. Your personal experiences are one of the best reservoirs you have and they will produce the stories that mean the most to you.

There will, however, be shame in using your story as a power fantasy or means of revenge. 

3. Starting a story without any outlines or planning is like starting an architectural project without any blueprints. You could hypothetically succeed, but do you really want to risk it?

4. A story in your head looks perfect because there are no specifics. Your mind fills in the details for you. Keep in mind that you will need those details when writing, and that idyllic picture will suddenly be vacant.

(That said, if you wait until you know the last names of every character, you will never write your book.)

5. There is no such thing as a truly original concept. There is such a thing as an original execution. What parts of your story are the most powerful? What are you trying to accomplish?

6. If you can switch two of your characters' roles in the story and no change occurs to the overall plot nor anyone's motivations and interactions, you are doing something wrong. 

7. The only uneditable thing is a blank page. It is better to write a hundred pages of what you deem to be garbage than to never write at all because you couldn't live up to your own standards. 

8. If your characters don't want anything, then they're not going to do anything. 

9. A good character has tensile strength: you can edit them down to a sound byte or expand on them for paragraphs. 

10. Read your own work out loud. It makes the awkward segments incredibly obvious.

11. Dialogue, like action, requires momentum. Consider this when spacing scenes. If the conversation is heated, putting in huge blocks of internal monologue or unrelated, irrelevant action is going to distract from the task at hand. 

12. Write one word. Write another word. Trudge through sentences. Then paragraphs. If your story is worth keeping, it will clear. If you've made it through 8000 words and everything is a chore, it might be time to shelf your book.

13. Imagery can do wonders for a story, but only if it's doing anything at all. Purple prose is real and it bloats stories. Likewise, sparse stories lacking in any kind of atmosphere are similarly snoozeworthy. 

14. List five qualities of your protagonist. 

Extrapolate on them. 

How does this trait impact your character's decisions? What does it do to their arc as a whole?

If it in no way changes them by removing this trait, consider revising that list. 

15. Read and read critically. If you're having problem with something in your book, read more-- although I'm not necessarily suggesting you should do so for matters of plot or character (this often comes off as derivative). Instead, I would advise looking at things like paragraph structure or dialogue. How do writers you like balance the internal monologue with action? How smooth does it make their stories? How do they differentiate character voices? Do they? (A lot of characters in YA novels sound the same. Sometimes across authors.) Once you've learned to recognize good prose in other novels (and bad prose!) it will be easier to pick apart your own work.