Sunday, May 25, 2014

THE TEN COMMMANDMENTS OF NARRATIVE

This is the first installment of my "Ten Commandments of Writing" series. Basically, each will be a set of ten rules/guidelines covering a specific genre or aspect of writing, based on some very good advice I've picked up from various sources. So follow my sacred laws, peasants, lest the wrathful God of the Written Word rain hellfire down upon you! (note: For all of you out there with no sense of humor, yes, this list is meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but it is still advice that I have found quite helpful)

The Ten Commandments of Narrative

  1. Thou shall not infodump on thy readers
  2. Thou shall knowest thine enemy, purple prose, so as to best avoid its temptations
  3. Honor the word "said" above superfluous dialogue tags
  4. Thou shall not permit thy plot to lose its focus
  5. Thou shall not pad out thy work with filler
  6. Thou shall properly utilize thy setting in service of thy story
  7. Keep holy the integrity of thy story, for it is not thy personal soapbox
  8. Thou shall have a plot that is coherent, and not a series of random happenings
  9. Thou shall not defile thy thesaurus
  10. Thou shall pay homage to the written word by continuing to practice thy craft
Like it? Love it? Hate it? Most of this was just stuff I came up with off the top of my head (based on advice I've heard elsewhere, of course). Feel free to share what your personal rules for writing are,  and let me know what you'd like me to do a list of "commandments" for next! ~Leanne

No comments:

Post a Comment