Throwback Thursday!!

**Who said time travel doesn't exist?

Have a look at one of For the Love of Writing's very first blog posts. **

UNLEASH YOUR BEAST

I'll bet most or all of you have heard that tired old advice more than you'd like. The one that goes: Just write! Don't think! But unfortunately, that is often easier said than done. Even I have spouted those two sentences a time or two. And yet, even I struggle to swallow my own advice sometimes.
That's why I'm writing about this and something else. Something we all still fear at times.

Another saying that we as writers have heard is: Write what you know.

It's easier that way, no? If you are a nurse, or have experience in the nursing field, then perhaps your characters or storylines reflect a bit of that in your books. If you are one of those who crave the affections of another, then your characters might act the same way. It's always simpler to write what you know.

If you write romance, you stick to romance. If you write horror, you stick to horror.

Yes, you may add a few elements of other genres in your writing but only a bit here and there.

Someone asked me the other day...what happens if you get stuck in a rut? What happens if you always ONLY stick to what you know and never explore writing about anything else?...... (Continue reading HERE)



Rule #1

Don't use prologues.

Don't use flashbacks.

Don't do this.

Don't do that.

Blah blah blah blahibbitty blah.

If you're like me (and something tells me you are) in the search to better your craft you come across a lot of articles and books about what to do. Whether it be from the internet or a magazine there are a ton of voices telling you how to improve your writing and what publishers are looking for. I can spend hours pouring over them and engraining the rules into my already frayed noggin. But something I realized lately is that I'm fed up with it.

Sure you need know grammar and how to properly compose your manuscript. You don't want to spit in the face of the industry you want to be apart of. However with all the rules you can become a slave to them, thus lose yourself in the process.

To me anyway, the no prologue rule is new. Now for me if i were to take out prologues from each story I've written I'd have no stories. Zilch. Nada. Bupkiss. Every story since the age of ten has had one. It's a part of me and how I write.

Another one is don't start in the middle of a story. Uh, hello! Didn't the epic Star Wars start in the middle of the story before creating a subpar beginning? Can you disagree with George Lucas? Well...yeah you can. Did you see the The Phantom Menace? Yeah, putting it in 3D does not make it better. Grrr.

Or how about no dream sequences? Again, I run into the same problem. What happens when the rules infringe on what your story says? How it speaks to you?

The main rule of writing should be to write the story YOU were meant to write. To hell with the rules! When you look over the books you love do the authors seem trapped by the rules? Doubtful. They wrote the stories they wanted to. Now it’s your turn.

Write the tale your heart tells you to.

Okay that was short and sweet. So get to writing….well….GO!!  J

Bits O'Wisdom: Rule Breaker!!

I know what you're thinking. *Gasp!* She can't be seriously telling us to break the rules...right? Haha yes.
Well....sort of.
I've been writing since twelve. Not much to brag about from back then since most of the poetry I wrote were rantings of an emotional preteen. Haha. Eventually, years later, I sat myself down and began writing my very first novel, entitled: Welcome Home. I was super excited. I spent weeks clicking away at the computer in the living room. Days, nights...I was on a freaking roll! Writer's block? Ha! I had no idea what that was. None of that wretched disease for me! The words flowed like an endless fountain of word vomit. It was beautiful. I was having so much fun.

Then again I also had no idea what I was doing. I didn't know my characters needed to move things forward. Didn't know that all those adverb cluttered sentences were no-nos. Or that I was probably putting too much detail where there shouldn't be...too little where there should be more. I was ignorant. And like they say...ignorance is bliss.
A couple months later my novel was finished. Can you guess what I did next? Oh yeah. I queried the thing. (Or at least I thought I did. I really had no idea what a query letter should look like) Sent it out to every address I could get my hands on and waited. I really wish I could tell y'all that I got a miracle response with a book deal that made me famous. That some kind hearted editor saw past the badly written manuscript and took me under their wing. Unfortunately this is reality and stuff like that rarely happens. If ever. No, what happened was a wake-up call. I was rejected.

I wallowed a bit. Sniffled. Then I picked up the pieces of my shattered ego and got myself into some writing communities. I started learning the ins and outs of good writing and met some fellow writers who helped me along the way.

Like everything in life...writing has rules. As writers we need to learn these rules, practice them. It's the only way we will ever get better. Unfortunately, sometimes it's these same rules that hinder our creativity. Stifle our muse(s). We get so caught up in following these rules, these guidelines, that we forget to let our uniqueness show. Which is why..sometimes..we have to break them.

---> Save the unconventional writing for when you're established...
Um, we've all heard this. I've heard this. All the time. But what if your story (you know the one in your head that is screaming to get on paper) is supposed to be mainly back story? *gasp!* Or what if the whole thing can't be told any other way except for multiple flashbacks? *eek!* I can see all you 'Rule-Followers' cringing in horror. I can hear it now: "Don't do that! Nobody will publish you! That's a no-no!" Really? Think about all the great authors...how many of them broke the rules? Is it ok now because they ARE published? Doesn't that mean you can too? Once upon a time J.K.Rowling was not J.K.Rowling. Stephen King, Danielle Steele, Nicholas Sparks...they weren't always THEM. Hmm..

---> Stick to the 'formula'...
It's not really called that, not always, but y'all know there is a formula for erotica, romance, fantasy, horror...some method one must follow to build a 'good story.' Romance must have that element introduced early. Sex scenes must show up almost first thing in Erotica. Inciting incidents must be huge in Fantasy...I get it. Again I ask: What if that's not how your story is supposed to be told?

Those are just a couple of rules that are often advised one shouldn't break. It defies the norm. It goes against the way things are done. Yes, stories must have structure. They need a purpose driven plot and characters that aren't flatter than a pancake on Sunday morning but they also need to have that uniqueness that sets it apart from all those other books out there. Does your story have that? Is it unique? Does it have that spark? Yes? Good.

So...are you going to tell it the way it was meant to be told? Or are you going to tell it the way others say it should be told?