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Post by Stacy on Oct 5, 2009 10:32:14 GMT -5
I thought that "the rule of three" was something I'd come up with totally on my own and I was about to come and write a post on here asking people about the writing rules and techniques that they'd come up with.
Then I googled "writing rule of three".
Yeah, I didn't come up with it.
But hey, I did intuit it all on my own. That counts for something, right?
So I'll go ahead and ask - what if any little writing rules have you come up with for yourself?
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Post by thelunarfox on Oct 5, 2009 11:57:39 GMT -5
I don't think so. But there were a few great tips I picked up from Roger Zelazny in his compilation of short stories "Unicorn Variations."
First rule was to never put more than three features of any character in one place. If you have a character sizing up another one, you don't want to over whelm the readers with description, you just want to give them what they need. He said that he'd found that three items were usually good enough.
The Second rule (or I guess it was more his trick, not really a rule) was that even in a short story, he'd allude to the history of a character. A character without history is flat, but if you give even one inkling that there is more to the character than what is being presented, the writer can breath some life into him. And it doesn't even have to do with what is going on with the story.
In addition to the first rule, that link I put up in the resources area has a good tip. Don't just describe the colors. It really doesn't matter if the character has blue eyes or brown hair unless the eyes are frosty or the hair is mousy. Each description should give some sort of an inkling into the character.
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Post by girlyesterday on Oct 5, 2009 20:02:22 GMT -5
I can't say I have any writing rules other than cringing whenever I realise I've used the same word in a paragraph twice.
I tend to hand my drafts to my partner who picks out anything that might sound weird.
The only thing I do, not so much a rule though, is to read my writing out loud after I've written it. I can usually pick out anything jarring when I read my work out loud.
I also rarely describe my characters phsyically. I tend to 'describe' them by 'showing' who they are by their attitdues, reactions and thought processes. I've just never felt the need to tell the reader whether Mr.X has black or blonde hair or whether his eyes are green or blue.
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Post by mdpthatsme on Oct 15, 2009 20:06:22 GMT -5
I was told by wind of an agent that they are looking for sentences between the standard of 20 to 42 words.......who writes sentences that long? 42 words??? They must have a lot of prepositional phrases.... .....or way too many adjectives. I've been told I use too many adjectives, but I like them. Adjectives make the world. Like the blue sky, how do you know it's blue unless the adjective is there. Any who, I have no rules, at least, no more than practical English terms. Well, never mind, I do have one. If I use a descriptive word such as marvelous (just because it's my favorite word), I will not use it again on the same page, some times the same chapter. This broadens your vocabulary and in-mind thesaurus when you force yourself to look for a synonym for marvelous or any word really. Marvelous is just special.
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Post by Luminessence on Dec 8, 2009 9:53:11 GMT -5
I was told by wind of an agent that they are looking for sentences between the standard of 20 to 42 words....... Wow... talk about nitpicky. An agent who has time to count the words in each sentence of a manuscript does not have enough manuscripts to read.
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Post by mdpthatsme on Dec 8, 2009 16:01:49 GMT -5
Or just uses Word to count them for him/her
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