Rules are like a pathway and can be helpful.
Despite the writer
W. Somerset Maugham’s admonition that there are three rules for writing, but unfortunately nobody knows them, there continue to be plenty of offerings from an ever-growing number of people. Here is yet another set of rules provided by European bestselling author
Glenn Meade at the Knoxville Writers’ Guild on Thursday, Feb. 2, 2012. Commentary and fleshing out provided by the blog editor, David E. Booker. A partial list of Meade’s novels are at the end of this entry. Use these writing rules as you see fit.
1) First, action, then reaction
Your protagonist needs to be taking action, not just reacting to the events of the story / novel / film / play. Of course, there is always one major exception to this. That is at the very beginning. At that point, the protagonist is usually reacting to what is referred to as the inciting incident. For example, think of the first Star Wars movie. Luke Skywalker is “stuck” on his uncle’s farm in an out-of-the-way part of the galaxy. He longs for something else, but feels like he will never get it. Then storm troopers arrive, ransack the farm, kill his uncle and aunt, and as it puts it: “There is nothing for me here now.” So, to borrow from another story about a young boy: he lights out for the territories. So, at the start of your story, it is usually the antagonist that takes the first action, to which the protagonist reacts, and then begins action to restore the balance upset by the antagonist.
2) Showing is better than telling
It usually works better if you show how a character feels about another one rather than telling. If boy loves his dog, how does he show it? By feeding the dog, playing with it, letting it sleep with him (especially if his parents object), or in spite of having allergies which the dog dander might aggravate.
3) Every scene has three senses
Every scene has three senses.
There is more than meets the eye on the printed page. How do the flowers smell? What does the rain feel like? Even, how does a particular place make the protagonist feel? Does going back to a childhood home make him feel sad or happy, angry or melancholic? Smells can evoke emotions, so describe how something smells, then maybe describe how the protagonist reacts to the smell, if it is important for him or her to do.
4) If you have two heroines, make one blond and the other brunette
Give your main characters distinguishing physical characteristics, or some sort of distinguishing characteristics. Certainly, hair color is a very easy characteristic, and can help you, the author, tell your characters apart, regardless of their sex.
5) Likeable protagonist
Readers want to at the very least empathize with your protagonist and her situation and the easiest way to do this is to make her likeable. That doesn’t meant she should be perfect. Perfection won’t help your character.
There are other ways to make your protagonist empathetic. One, make her the best at whatever she does. Two, put her in extreme peril early on in the story. This could be mental or physical, though physical might be easier to show. Three, make her the underdog. Almost everybody has a soft spot for the underdog, even a smart alecky one. Four, use humor. Nothing like humor to break the ice and break the barrier between protagonist and reader.
6) Dialogue is people talking
It is not, as it is sometimes referred to: “As you know, Fred” exchanging of information. It is not one chemist telling another chemist something they should both already know about chemical reactions.
It is also not rambling speech that goes nowhere, or tails off, or full of the “ahs” and “ohs” and other verbal ticks we all have.
Dialogue is not as easy as it sounds.
No real-life conversation would work verbatim in a story. Dialogue is “heighten” speech. It gives the impression of everyday speech, but with “half the fat” so to say.
Also, the best dialogue is often not about what the dialogue is about. Or, to quote Bob McKee, from his writing book Story: “If the scene is about what the scene is about, then the scene is dead.” In short, dialogue is often as much about what is NOT said as what is said.
All of the above is part of what makes dialogue tough to master.
7) Speech ties to speech acts
This can be overdone, both in the number of times used and as a way to sneak in adverbs and adjectives. Example: “Hey,” Bob said, waving his hand to get her attention. He straightened his tie as his date approached. This lets the reader know that Bob might be a little nervous, that this could be his first date with the woman. What you don’t want to do is go: “Hey,” Bob said, waving his hand excitedly to get her attention. He straightened his tie nervously as she approached.
Speech ties to speech acts is also the simple matter of if there is an action that follows somebody speaking, the action is that of the person speaking. Example: “Hey,” Bob said. She waved her hand to get his attention. Unless Bob is short for Bobbie is short for Roberta and “Bob” is how she is usually referred to and the reader knows this, the above is one person speaking followed by another person doing an action.
8) Paragraphs are for point of view
Within a paragraph, stick to one character’s point of view. If you need to switch points of view, start a new paragraph.
9) Scenes have a certain movement
Each scene or chapter has its own small arc to it. A chapter might have several small arcs to them. Within that arc, there is movement: physical, emotional, mental, spiritual. That movement is generally from a negatively charge beginning to a positively charged ending, or from a positive beginning to a negative ending.
Example, if in scene A, your protagonist is trying to get to a friend’s house, the end of that scene will be when he gets there or doesn’t. But along the way, he shouldn’t stop to buy a Mother’s Day card for his mother, a sweet role for his breakfast, stop and read the newspaper (whatever that is), or anything else that interrupts the flow. Certainly, the protagonist can run into obstacles, but the obstacles should be in importance to the scene and story. For example, if the protagonist getting to his friends house is a minor part of the story, it should not be weighed down with major obstacles. The only possible exception to this is if you are writing a humorous story, the obstacles can be out of proportion, but they should still be weighed against the overall flow of the story. After all, a humorous story with one scene that is much more funny than the rest of the story will only make the rest of the story seem flat.
10) Stick to the rules
If a character has a characteristic on page one, she should still have that characteristic on page 10 and throughout the story.
11) Upon occasion, don’t be afraid to break the rules
Know the rules, but also know when to bend or even break them. God won’t smite you and sometimes it’s necessary. But it should not be the first thing you try and like seasoning in a soup often works best when done in small amounts. A little salt can go a long.
Writing books to consider:
Stein on Writing by Sol Stein
Writing the Breakout Novel by Donald Maass
Story: Substance, Structure, Style, and the Principles of Screenwriting by Robert McKee.
Some novels by Glenn Meade:
The Second Messiah: a Thriller
Snow Wolf
Resurrection Day
Web of Deceit
The Devil’s Disciple.
Young writer at work.
Some novels by the web log editor:
Not one. Not yet, anyway. Working on it.
Disclaimer: any errors are mine. Somebody has to own them.
Booker's Blog 