Little bit of a click bait title because I am not going to discuss actual rules. Instead I want to talk about rules I use to help my creativity. Every time I set out on a new story, and many other writers I work with, I get bogged down with the limitless choices given to me. My imagination is my only limiting factor, and for me, that's a bad thing. With limitless choices and ideas, I have found that the best thing for me is to build rules, creative limitations to work within. I don't mean, third person vs first person, or, I am going to write this many words a day, but rules for the universe I am working in, rules that govern everything from the physics to the motivations on large scale ie governments, towns, cities, groups of people. After that I build my characters, with back stories, flaws, and personalities, more limitation. By building the rules for my characters it's easier for me to write their motivations and their actions are more realistic and consistent to who they are as a character. I've been using a lot of creative exercises lately where I will use a prompt (like in my other post) and test the rules I have created for the character, or test the rules I created for the universe. By limiting me creativity with these self imposed rules I am able to work on the story itself over constantly questioning what do i do next, would this work, or is this consistent enough. What do you guys do? Do you have any self imposed rules for writing? I am always looking to hone my skill and sharpen my writing, so I am always up for trying new techniques and seeing what I can add to my creative writing toolbox!
I guess this is kind of circular because my rule has always been, it is okay to break any writing rule...BUT there must be a darn good reason for it. Other ones include swearing. As I said in another post, my characters just do not swear that often, because I do not like writing or reading swear words. But in real life I do not swear, finding it is dialogue-cliche. People laugh at me, but in real life I will say, "Oh man, that looks like Kaka Pants", instead of saying, "that looks like sh-a-t." But here is the thing, a grown man using the saying Kaka Pants is pretty unusual and memorable...which is exactly what I want my characters to be. In either case, I, nor my characters, foul the no-swearing self-imposed rule I set for myself.
IDK, just try and string words into a coherent mess approaching a story that isn't filled with plotholes and Mcguffins I guess. I don't shy away from having my characters saying things that make them sound like they fit their personas, cause that is kinda what makes them feel a bit more plausible. Though I strongly try and avoid using the F word, unless it either adds to the effect of the moment, or if the character is really pissed off about something. Also I am kinda a stickler for making sure there aren't any continuity errors, even if it is something as trivial as a minor detail that crops up at the extreme ends of a story. Continuity matters, and while I may not be the best writer out there, at least no one will ever say I screwed up any of the important/minor recurring details due to be lazy.
One of the writers in my writing group does it this way, lol she calls it seat of her pants writing cause she just goes for it! I've tried it in the past but it leaves to many options and I get bogged down on the little details, mad props for whoever can pull it off though.
Yeah I totes get that, it's really amazing to watch someone throw a story together that way. I'm so meticulous in my planning and development sometimes I get bogged down in it
I try to write imaginatively and edit ruthlessly. I make section headings as reminders of what each section I've written is about and for the sections I'm planning to write. I try to make each character unique, not only in personal characteristics but also in aims and ambitions. It makes a more interesting story if all the characters are pulling in different directions. I imagine a checklist of things the text needs to do and review my story with respect to how I've achieved each one. Try to avoid info-dumps.
That's awesome you can do it just imagining it! I have a physical check list I use hahahaha, and several three ring binders worth of notes at this point! Totally hahahaha
I call it craft, which can be a set of questions, for instance, what journey do the characters go on, how does it change them, how does the change reflect the theme, what's the theme, how does the plot reflect the theme etc. I use the cycle approach: www.youtube.com/user/clickokDOTcoDOTuk/videos
That's a really cool way to look at it! I Like seeing everyone's process cause it helps me with my own! I'm not that old! lol, but no for reals, I went back to school to get my BA (eventually my masters and PhD) so I started delivering pizzas again and work with a bunch of kids hahahaha
