Random
137 Rules for Writing
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47. If it seems like some rules you’ve heard about writing will serve your project, then don’t be ashamed of adhering to them.
48. If one of those rules rubs you the wrong way, push it as far as you can in the opposite direction, and your opposition will be usefully fierce.
49. But don’t be wishy-washy about it. If that’s what you’re going to do, just follow those rules you don’t like.
50. But at least have a reason for doing whatever it is you’re doing.
51. And don’t forget that formal constraints can yield up super-cool things.
52. Think you’re right while you’re doing whatever you’re doing.
53. But don’t be an asshole later and really think you’re right about everything. You’re not.
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73. There is a set of rules for each individual piece of writing, and you find them as you go along.
74. But that doesn’t mean it’s not intelligent to have listened to and internalized what other people have said.
75. It’s best if you internalize contradictory advice given by contrary givers. You build a storehouse of technical, practical, and theoretical knowledge, and then, one day, you might find you have a reason to use it you wouldn’t have expected.
76. And if you don’t have a reason to use it, it will still make you a better reader.
77 – 107. Rules #77-107 are: Read everything.
108. Twice.
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113. Learn about art, philosophy, history, religion, geography, and at least one other specialized body of knowledge that doesn’t directly bear upon writing.
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117. No matter your aesthetic inclination, eventually you’ll be faced with the reality that all you have to work with is dialogue, narration, indirect dialogue, interior monologue, exposition, and description. So it would be wise to know what they are and what they do and what their inherent strengths and weaknesses and other inherent qualities are.
118. Also: If you don’t choose a point of view, or allow a point of view to choose you, you won’t be able to fully exploit the possibilities latent in whatever thing you’ve drafted.
119. So it might be wise to learn every possible deployment of point of view, so you have every available option, even if you decide to only use one of them all the time.
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121. The most accomplished criminals are the ones who best know the ins and outs of the laws they’re breaking. So maybe all those rules you hate? You should learn all of them.
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123. Make up some of your own rules, too.
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127. Eventually you will die. It is the only thing I can promise you. Think about that when you’re thinking about the value of the time it takes you to make things, and then think about it some more when you’re choosing what things to make.
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131. If you give away your knowledge to someone else, you won’t lose any of your knowledge, and you might begin to grow in your knowledge, since your knowledge is being tested by the act of communicating it.
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136. You have to take time to actually sit down and write. A lot of time. Seriously.
137. Beginnings and endings matter.
So, everything goes as long as it works, and as long as it works, it sells?
23. READ MORE
That’s 77-107. (see above.)
Lots of unwritten rules. So true.
I love these, especially 119 and 131. POV, and give it away, give it away, give it away, give it away now. It does come back one hundredfold.
Thanks.
i know
Ha!
i’ve always been fond of Never have a reason for what you are doing. which is necessarily ancilliary to Don’t know what you are doing.
ancillary
“121. The most accomplished criminals are the ones who best know the ins and outs of the laws they’re breaking. So maybe all those rules you hate? You should learn all of them.”
This is very much conventional wisdom, but I’m not sure it’s equally true for every artist. It seems like a way to keep all art bound to the dominant conventions, either in opposition or acceptance, as if those were the only two possible options.
A criminal has the choice to obey or break the law, but not to revoke it.
113. biochemistry, molecular genetics, population genetics, evolutionary biology, microbiology, zoology, botany, pharmacology, physical anthropology, cultural anthropology, organizational psychology
Loved this post. I’m in a workshop right now and everyday I get handed a new sheet of So and So’s rules for writing so this was hilarious in its relevancy for me.
edit in print, not on screen
These are great. Especially #70, which I always forget, and #136, which is guilting me into closing this browser window right now.
This is so great.
I missed the ‘sales’ rule(s). ?
Kyle, have you seen “33 Rules of Poetry for Poets 23 and Under,” by Kenny Goldsmith and Charles Bernstein, which came out a few years ago?
Seems fairly obvious you have!
I haven’t, but I’d like to. Would you link to it here?
I googled it, Kent, but the link I found attributed it to Kent Johnson. Here is the link for anyone interested: http://almostisland.com/archives/2007-monsoon/prose/33_rules_of_poetry_for_poets_2.pdf
Sounds like a rule (!)
Yep!
yolandi
One time I heard Elizabeth McCracken speak and she said a rule I love: never save anything for later.
What I think it means is don’t save up your material or your ideas. Always use them now! For one, the more you use the more you’ll get, and for another the ideas are right for you (maybe only) when they come to you.
Kyle, if you’ll just send me a message, I’ll zip you the link backchannel. kent.johnson@highland.edu
There are some rather strong echoes, and it would be weird indeed if it’s just coincidence. But maybe so.