Avoid adverbs at all costs.
I am a member of several writing groups on social media. Most of the time they are wonderful places full of writers eager to share their successes, disappointments, ask questions and help each other out in any way possible. Like any online community, even writing groups have their share of trolls, but most of the time, the members are good at policing themselves and shutting them down pretty quick.
The only acceptable dialogue tag is said.
One thing I have noticed in these groups is the number of people talking about the “rules” of writing. How they should be treated as finite and there is no wiggle room for anything other than the rules. I’m experienced enough to know better, but some newer writers don’t, and they take confident sounding advice from strangers as gospel.
Now, I don’t know if you’ve noticed, but I’m not one for blindly following what I’m told. I look at who is telling me the “rule”, then research what is being said by going to a trusted source such as the OED or the MLA writing style handbook.
If someone makes claims of being a professional and talks about the rules of writing as something set in stone, then I’m going to assume they know nothing about editing, or language in general. (I know, I know. Ass. U. Me.).
Write what you know.
I take issue with that. In my anthropology schooling, I learned that language is a living thing–it grows, evolves and changes with the times. The Oxford English Dictionary is widely considered the preeminent source on the English language, and each year new words are added and definitions expanded. Take a look at the list of new words added in September 2016.
September.
One month alone saw the addition of 175 official new words. While many have been in our slang vocabulary for quite some time, they are now officially part of the English language.
Write straight through, don’t edit as you go.
Here’s the deal. There are no “rules” in writing. There are guidelines, for sure, but nothing is finite; nothing is set in stone. What works for someone else may not work for you, and vice versa.
What was a “rule” yesterday is cliché today. What is an “absolute no” today is trend setting tomorrow.
Writing is art. Art is fluid and ever changing.
Want to use an adverb? Go ahead.
Want to say whispers, or shouted, or sneered? Go ahead.
Want to write something different, something you haven’t lived through? Go ahead (though I do recommend researching first!).
Want to edit as you write? Go ahead.
There is only one rule for writing–just write.
And if anyone gives you a hard time for not “following the rules”, remember what Nora Roberts says…
9 comments