Writing Rules…and Corollaries

An extremely talented writer (who shall remain nameless because otherwise some troll will try to make this look like a shot across the bow and it isn’t) posted their opinion of a few writing rules that they thought weren’t very useful.

I think that take is valid only from a certain POV, and rather than counter directly, I’ll just post my corollaries to the original rules.

WRITE WHAT YOU KNOW

Corollary:
Know thyself.

“Write what you know” shouldn’t be simplistically interpreted as “write only about external knowledge (read trivia) you absorbed”.

The ancients taught “know thyself” was one of the most important rules to live by, buttressed by Socrates’ "The unexamined life is not worth living."

It’s a charge to be fearlessly and scrupulously honest in constantly examining ourselves, our emotions, our thoughts, our values, our ethics.

One reason Christian fiction and media tend to be so crappy is that rarely do people writing or creating for that audience turn their gaze inward, examining the dark and unpleasant parts of their own soul.

Every story is autobiographical.

Oh, many an author will claim “That wasn’t me, that was just my character saying / doing that” but that’s baloney.

That character lives in you, puny human.  The atrocities and horrors they visit on others are horrors and atrocities that you nurture deep in your heart of hearts.

But that ain’t necessarily a bad thing…

We may not control every idea or emotion our mind creates, but we sure can control how those ideas and emotions get expressed.

To recognize there is that dark place inside us that nurtures some sort of evil requires an honest, unblinking gaze.

To muzzle that evil, to reign it in, to chain it up, that takes strength and courage.

It will never go away, it will always be there, ready to spring out.

But if you know where it is and what it is capable of, you can sketch its shape as a warning for others, help them recognize the same beast dwelling inside their souls.

Encourage them to stand up to it in defiance.

“Write what you know” means know what dwells inside you -- good and bad, light and heavy, bright and shadow, sweet and bitter, strong and weak -- and write about that!

Details on how to tie a knot or fly an airplane or paint a house or what licorice tastes like can all be used in service of your writing.

But like it or not, you’re going to be writing about yourself.

EVERY VILLAIN IS THE HERO OF THEIR OWN STORY

Corollary:
Every antagonist believes their actions are justified.

There are some rotten, terrible, child-raping, dog-killing scum of the earth walking around loose.

They enjoy inflicting pain and suffering on the weak.

They believe they are entitled to do so.

They may fully recognize they are breaking the law -- indeed, they often relish in violating societal norms -- but from their POV they believe they are entitled to rape that child, kill that dog.

Some will blindly follow orders and commit atrocities, and that may be due to a self-image that tells them they have no value unless they are obedient to what they perceive as a higher authority, or it may be due to them wanting to shift blame to someone else so they can enjoy their sadism without having to pay for it, but again they believe they are justified in doing so.

The root of all evil is the love of the self over all others.

Look, we need to take care of ourselves, we need to protect our psyches and souls…

…but not at the expense of others.

Antagonists (I dislike the term “villain” as too simplistic and pat) put their self-satisfaction ahead of everyone and everything else.

They like hearing that child scream, they like seeing that dog die.

They have a right to those pleasures, and if you deny them that right, you are the villain, not they.

Heroes (in the genuine Joseph Campbell / Mr. Rogers sense of the word) enrich their self-value by enriching others.

If you’re honest enough, if you’re fearless enough, writing can be one of the most heroic tasks imaginable.

SHOW, DON’T TELL

Corollary:
Make ‘em feel it.

How you make them feel it is limited only by your skills and talents and imagination.

To simply state “She felt bad” does little for your reader.

How does she feel bad? 

Does her stomach turn to water?

Does her heart feel like a hand is constricting it?

Do her cheeks burn?

Does her throat turn scratchy?

Do her eyes brim with tears?

Create a visceral response, even for the most abstract and philosophical of thoughts.

As lyricist Jim Steinman wrote:  
“You’ll never know what it means,
but you’ll know how it feels.”

Truth be told, there is but one unbreakable rule for any creative person:

NEVER BORE YOUR AUDIENCE

This is the point where the pedantic troll says “But what if I want to bore my audience?  Huh?  Huh?  Ever think about that?  What if I want to bore ‘em?”

Then you are an idiot.

You are wasting a golden opportunity to communicate with another soul.

You’re throwing it away instead of profiting off it (see above about enriching others to enrich ourselves).

To the troll:
Yes, you may write about boredom, you may make your reader feel what boredom is like, but for the love of all that’s sweet and holy, never actually bore them!

”The Reluctant…operates in the back areas of the Pacific…  For the most part it stays on its regular run, from Tedium to Apathy and back; about five days each way.  It makes an occasional side trip to Monotony, and once it made to run all the way to Ennui, a distance of two thousand nautical miles from Tedium.  It performs its dreary and unthanked job, and performs it, if not inspiredly, then at least adequately.”

— Thomas Heggen, Mr. Roberts

Got a feeling for how boring life aboard the USS Reluctant is, didn’t you?

And you weren’t bored by it, you actually found it amusing.

Go thou and do likewise.

© Buzz Dixon