It can be difficult for creatives to follow a strict rule book, but there are some rules for writing that are universal. You may be happy to have a list to guide your writing. Or you might decide I’m an idiot. How can you put limits on creativity? Well, these are the rules I’ve taught and (mostly) followed as long as I’ve been writing.
I’ve tested, shared and sometimes ignored each of them at one point or another and always returned to them. Fight me if you want, but I stand by them.
1. Active voice is better than passive.
The clock was wound. The ball was thrown. The food was eaten.he shark was killed by the mom. All far less compelling than the active tense. He wound the clock. They ate food with gusto. The angry mother killed the shark out of revenge.
I extend this rule to include linking verb sentences as well. I was eating. She is running. They are wondering why it’s necessary to eat dinner so late every night. This sentence construction creates sentences that feel unwieldy. You can be more direct and show more action by using action verbs. They wondered why they had to eat dinner so late every night.
2. If you can tell a story instead of describing a procedure, do so.
This applies to both fiction and non-fiction. If you want to create imagery and add information into your readers head, don’t tell them what to do, show them how it’s done via storytelling.
I worked with a woman writing a book about creating communities. When she discussed the way volunteers work together to form a tight-knit community, I found it harder to follow than when she described the Hawaiian banyan tree. Its roots hang down from branches, connecting to the roots shooting through the ground below to create solid beautiful connections between the top, middle, and bottom.
3. Remove phrases like “I think,” “I believe,” “I feel,” and the like.
You’re writing it. We know it’s your opinion. Adding these phrases weakens your message.
4. Avoid parentheses.
If it’s important enough to be in your writing, it’s important enough to stand on its own. (This was said to me by my first writing mentor Nancy. I almost always follow it. You don’t have to, but I still cringe when I see text in parenthesis.)
5. Orwell’s Rule: Never use a long word when a short word will do.
It’s the movement of the sentence and the image you paint that’s important. Sometimes a good long word creates the perfect picture. Most times, though, you just discompose your reader.
6. Baldwin’s rule: Write a sentence clean as a bone.
Nothing more needs to be said. That’s the power of writing a clean bone sentence.
7. King’s rule: First write for yourself, then worry about the audience.
When you write for an audience, you’re writing to try to fit an imaginary group of people who can’t be predicted. Every day might bring you something different. You’ll measure every word against an impossible yardstick. You know what you want. Trust that instead.
8. Be like a butcher.
You can always cut. If you think you’ve cut all you possibly can, you can probably cut more. But cutting happens during the editing phase. Until then, you’re building up the meat that you cut into pieces later.
9. You don’t need a formal writing education to be a writer.
Writing is education. Reading is education. And there you have the two most important parts of a writing education.
You can take classes, hire a mentor, find editors. You can check out Chuck Pahlanik’s 36 Essays on Writing. Or learn at Khan Academy. Open Culture. altMBA. Then read and write more. And then even more.
But you don’t need a specific teacher or class or degree to write well.
10. Every writer needs a reader.
Not just when you’ve finished writing, but during the writing process. None of us can see our own writing clearly. Not all the time. That’s why a good reader is worth her weight in platinum. One solid piece of feedback can be the difference between a pretty good piece of writing and one that kills.
11. Be paid for your writing.
Your words and work have value. You deserve to be paid for them. There will be people who tell you exposure or clicks or a big name magazine is enough payment. Should you choose to write for free, that’s your choice. No one gets to decide that for you.
12. Take care of yourself first.
The old trope of the tortured writer? Ditch it now. If you’re not well-rested, well-fed and even-minded, you will not write your best. Some will call you selfish for putting yourself first. Think about it. They want you to do the most for them at your own expense. When you choose yourself over them, that’s called self-preservation.
13. Promote your work as often as you wish.
I know it can feel self-aggrandizing, and maybe sometimes it is. Who cares? There are people out there who will benefit from reading your writing. Whether you share information or an experience or a great how-to, you’re doing them a favor. If you don’t share it with them, who will? And if you don’t, everyone loses.
14. Lamott’s rule: Truth is a paradox.
In the Bible, the entire universe was created as “something out of nothing.” It is the first and most basic creation metaphor. Opposing ideas form the tension of a great story.
15. Without structure, you have nothing.
The organization of a piece of writing is the bones. Without bones, everything else falls apart. You can have excellent characters, perfect dialogue, and descriptions that will break people’s hearts, but if your reader doesn’t have a path to follow, they’ll get lost.
16. You can do whatever you want as long as you can make it work.
Every rule for writing can be broken. This is the truth of it. Some we follow because the rules help our readers. They help us write, too. Break the rules as you wish. As long as you can make it work, you can do it.
