(ETA - You should read my daughter's blog on what she learned from her various moms about books.)
I will be signing books on Thursday! Come see me at river's end bookstore in Oswego, NY from 6 - 8pm. The store is celebrating its 10th anniversary and it is time to party. We'll have TWISTED in paperback and INDEPENDENT DAMES (thank you Uncle Simon and Uncle Schuster for making it available a little early).
The next 6 weeks are going to scream by, so be patient if my posts are a little sporadic and shorter than usual. I am going to be posing questions in preparation for my July Writing Challenge; things designed to get you thinking and maybe open up some ideas for your writing during that month.
Today is Katherine Hepburn's birthday. Ms. Hepburn famously said: "If you obey all the rules you miss all the fun."
So here is today's question: Which rules are worth breaking?
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Comments
"As one goes through life, one learns that if you don't paddle your
own canoe, you don't move. "
Specifically, rules about placing commas when following the rules means changing the rhythm of a character's voice or making a sentence harder to understand.
Generally, the rules that contain fallacies, such as, "You shouldn't try to write a novel until you've mastered the short form."
More to follow……………
But have fun!
So while I don't necessarily believe in breaking the rules of writing so much that the story is unreadable, hey, as thunderchikin wrote...the character's voice is most important, right?
Artists strengthen art by pushing the limits of "what is allowed" and "what is not".
The concept of change offers opportunities for improvement, for a different perspective, and and well, new opportunities.
While "Tradition, tradition!" is a real toe tapper, it should not let you or your organization's motto become "One hundred years of history unimpeded by progress"
Whatever time that was, it was never late enough for me to finish the book I wanted to finish. Once I discovered the "flashlight under the cover" technique of avoiding detection, I broke the "lights out" rule ALL THE TIME! It was so much fun to wake up the next day dead tired, but so satisfied because I knew how the book ended!
Even now, as an adult, I often read into the early hours of the next day although I know I'll pay for it at work the next day!