Tuesday, July 5, 2011
Rules
Rules are the bane of the writer. Do we follow or break them? And will breaking them ruin our stories? Aargh...rules! Then along comes Terry Bisson and his essay. Sixty! Count them, sixty rules for writing short sci-fi and fantasy. Even if you don't write in these genres, there's plenty of good advice in this collection of rules. http://www.sfwa.org/2011/07/guest-post-60-rules-for-short-sf-and-fantasy Read them, learn them, break them, or embrace them. Just write!
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5 comments:
Boy, those are great. I break too many of them. I wish my printer wasn't broken.
Well, you could always cut and paste the rules into a file, then print them out when you get a new printer, Patti.
And they are great rules to follow when you're writing short!
With a list this long, some are going to be Yes, some No, and some Maybe.
Yes: 6. Never write in present tense. It makes events less, not more, immediate. Past tense IS present tense.
I used to dislike present tense. Now I loathe it.
No: 26. Action is overrated anyway.
Of course, I have never written Sci-Fi.
Maybe: 5. Keep your timeline simple. Flashbacks are out of place in a short story.
They don't work, except when they do.
But it's a good list if it stimulates thought. This one does.
It is a good list, Al! Some of them I found myself laughing at and other nodding my head in complete agreement.
The one I liked best was drop your first paragraph, then you're done. I don't know how many times I've done that :)
Thanks for this. I guess I needed it because I've violated a couple of these rules big time.
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