Writing Rules: Love Them THEN Leave Them
DAY 39Word Count: 25,463
Sentence of the Day: He clenched his jaw instad of shaking her like the empty-headed ragdoll she playacted.
Writing is so subjective. What's fan-freaking-tastic writing to one is a steaming pile of doo-doo to another. What one publisher snatches up, another will reject. What's a writer to do?
Subjectivity or not, there are some basic, can't-argue-with-this kind of rules that make for solid writing...writing that will eventually get you sold. For the next few days, I'll go over the top 3.
RULE # 1:
Know the rules before you break them.
As much as I hate grammar, it is a necessary evil. Vomiting words on a page without punctuation will make your reader sick. If you weren't fortunate enough to have Mother Superior cracking your knuckles with a ruler when you committed a grammar gaffe, then do yourself a favor now, it's not too late. Learn sentence and paragraph structure. Get yourself a good grammar book and/or a grammar guru that's willing to talk you through the basics.
Note: I said basics. Leave the sentence diagramming to English majors.
Once you get a handle on general language construction, that's when the fun begins. Now you can make a statement by bending or breaking those rules to smithereens.
For instance, too many sentence fragments will make a reader reach for a bottle of Ritalin. But if you're writing a fast-paced scene, then you want to ramp up the tension with short, punchy lines.
On the flip slide, if you're trying to slow down a scene or make your reader feel how tired your character is, that's the time to throw in a run-on sentence.
Knowing how and when to wield the grammar scalpel is part of the craft--a part that both readers and editors will notice.