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Rules of Writingdom
Rules of Writingdom
The Elements of Style by William Strunk and E.B. White has long been considered the writer's bible, and is taught in colleges everywere. I was wondering if anybody here has read it, are planning on reading it, are not planning on reading it, or have thier own personal set of writerly rules that they follow.
My personal writerly rules, in no particular order:
1. Stay away from strings of adjectives.
2. Make sure that if someone reads any given paragraph in the story they will know exactly what is going on : who, what, where, when, why.
3. Suspense should be avoided, usually. Use it in moderation.
5. Do not use exclamation points. It's like telling people how to react.
4. Break writerly rules.
YOUR TURN EVERYBODY
I was introduced to The Elements of Style in high school and probably still have it sitting in a bookcase somewhere in the office or house.
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submitted by Adina, age 14
(March 16, 2011 - 4:03 pm)
(March 16, 2011 - 4:03 pm)
The Elements of Style sounds interesting. I might try to find it in the library. Anyways, here are my writerly rules:
1) Try not to use a word in a paragraph more than once. (however, the, and, a, and etc. are special exceptions, but shouldn't be overused either)
2) If your thoughts are jumbled, unplug the earphones (if you have any on/in), reread, and rewrite.
3) Avoid something like, "'Aha!' he exclaimed." From some wise writer on probably a NaNoWriMo thingy, using the ! and then, "exclaimed" is like stating the obvious. (that's not the exact wording, I can't remember it that well)
4) When writing, try not to listen to music that has words or music that doesn't have words but you know the words to it. (like listening to, um, "Grenade" on the piano but no one's singing, which I am doing right now, (but it's not Grenade that I'm listening to))
(March 16, 2011 - 7:03 pm)
Top!
(March 16, 2011 - 7:21 pm)
TOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOPTOP
(November 21, 2011 - 12:30 pm)