Wednesday, September 4, 2024

#IWSG Writing Rules Mess Up Writers


Shout-out to Alex and the awesome co-hosts for today:


Beth Camp, Jean Davis, Yvonne Ventresca, and PJ Colando!

Sept 4 question -


Since it's back to school time, let's talk English class. What's a writing rule you learned in school that messed you up as a writer?

I don't really remember any rules that messed me up back then. Years later, the "rule" about not putting more than four characters in an opening chapter was difficult to manage. Most rules for writers are broken all the time.


Finding Forrester 🎬


📚https://www.nationalbook.org/adventure/Summer Reading Adventure (based in the United States). 🕮 Adventurers must submit by August 31, 2024. I plan to keep track this summer here, on my blog.


Completed!

8 comments:

  1. Well done!
    Crap, I've introduced more than four characters in an opening chapter...

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  2. Someone makes 'em. We all break 'em!

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  3. Such a silly rule... Though I guess someone could have removed the 0 after the 4, which would make complete sense. LOL. Congrats on finishing the challenge.

    Ronel visiting for IWSG day Adventures in Audio: Recording and Publishing a Podcast

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  4. Ha that video! I often start sentences with conjuctions.

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  5. Proof that rules are meant to be broken. I do prefer to have fewer characters appear early in a story however. Especially the group scene where everyone is identified in length.

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  6. KInd of a rule of thumb, maybe, about too many characters in the first chapter. But seriously, a hard and fast rule of 4? The characters exist in a vacuum, maybe? I mostly wish someone had explained the rules governing commas to me, in a direct way (back in the 70s and 80s our schools were very anti-rules, I think--at least when it came to grammar. Other rules existed, and apparently were also made to be broken :D).

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  7. Google won't let me sign in!
    I hadn't seen that rule about four characters or fewer. I guess I can see why, but eh. Depends on the story!
    Deniz
    http://www.thegirdleofmelian.blogspot.com

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