Friday, May 2, 2014

One Rule To...Rule Them All?

Ask about writing and rules and you'll likely get the same answer.  Namely, there are none.  The only rule is that there are no rules.  If you listen to lectures on writing technique, you'll hear this over and over.  Writing methods or systems will often be given a caveat: These are not rules but tools.  Results may vary.  They may or may not work for you.  The motto could be stated, preferably in an Aussie accent: "No rules, just right."

Not to set a pattern here but, well, here I am setting a pattern: They are partly right but mostly wrong.

Every author, whether in fiction or non-fiction, regardless of their genre, must follow one rule.  There are no exceptions.  There is no way around it.  Few people talk about it.  Many ignore it.  It isn't a complicated rule.  In fact, it sounds deceptively simple.  Almost banal.  Just eight simple words:

Writers must communicate their stories to their audiences.

Three critical components make the rule.  Communication, story and audience.

Communication is the most vital of the three.  This is a deep subject that I could never hope to cover in a single post.  Briefly put, it is the process of putting the story that exists only in your imagination into the limited confines of mere words.  To say this is difficult is putting it mildly.  Most writers spend decades honing and refining their abilities as wordsmiths to become accomplished communicators.  Even then, words sometimes just cannot capture what is in our imaginations, which can cause all kinds of pain.  Still, we try.  How we communicate, though, is not set in stone.  In this regard, "no rules, just right" is partly correct.

This is where story and audience come in.  Because both affect the way an author communicates.

Story and audience are inextricably linked.  A story without a target audience is like an e-mail without an address.  When an author discovers a story, it is vitally important to also discover its audience.  A story about a young orphan boy who lives in a closet under the stairs will be treated very differently in the hands of different authors.  We all know what J.K. Rowling did with it.  What if it had been written by Donna Tartt?  What about Brandon Sanderson?  Nora Roberts?  Or, perish forbid, George R. R. Martin?*  If you are like me, your mind is probably popping with the possibilities.  Each author would craft a story aimed at their particular audiences.  The differences would be of cosmic proportions.

Here's where it gets back to communication.  Not interested in writing about an orphan living in a closet under the stairs?  You want to write a story about a ring and a dark lord?  You want to write for the epic fantasy crowd?  It is safe to say your epic fantasy won't be a 200-page quickie without a lick of world building.

Besides, if you want to write epic fantasy, why would you want to skip world building?  That's the best part.  We'll examine what not to reveal about your universe next in: The Three Monkeys Of World Building

*  In this version, only Ron lives in the end, albeit driven insane by all the death, misery and haunting whispers coming from an undestroyed Horcrux ...

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