The Rule of Three and How it Helps Our Writing

By Janice Hardy 

Three is a magic number in writing, and can help you craft stronger stories.

There was a joke in my house growing up, that things always happened in threes—good luck, bad luck, it didn't matter. If the car broke down, that meant two other things were sure to break within a few weeks. Someone got a raise, well, then two more good things were certainly on the way.

Most of the time it did actually happen—but probably not for the reasons you'd think. Good and bad things happen all the time, but we don't always notice them or make the connection to other similar events. It’s part of our culture and so ingrained in our subconscious that we notice (if not seek out) patterns that fit this rule. 

How Do You Know if Your Writing is Getting Better?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy 

Without objective feedback, it's hard to know if you're improving or just making the same mistakes. 

Almost every writer at some point has wondered, "Is my writing getting any better?" I've wondered about it, many writers I know have wondered about it, and odds are good you have, too. It's a normal question when what you're doing is so subjective. 

Sadly, there's no easy checklist to verify if you're improving or not. It's also really tough to judge our writing, because it's hard to be subjective about our own work. We can love our bad writing and hate our good writing—and we often have trouble telling the difference. 

Of course, you can always get a paid critique or manuscript review from a trusted professional source, but not everyone has or can afford that option. For this post, I'm focusing on what we can do on our own.  

3 Writing Rules You Can Break

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Some rules are absolutely made to be broken.

There are tons of rules in writing. Some we need to follow to be understood, others are more like guidelines, and some have gotten lost in translation, and no longer mean what we think they mean. Some are even stated as if they were absolutes, such as, "You should never use adverbs."

It's a lot to remember. However, once you know the rules, you can break the rules.

The trick is knowing which ones to ignore. 

I know how to spell, but that doesn't give me the freedom to misspell everything in my manuscript because I think it'll look cool. If you read my work you wouldn't think, "Wow, she's being really creative with the spelling. She must know what she's doing." You'd think, "Wow, she didn't even bother to proof this." Or worse, "She has no clue what she's doing."

Story Rulez: Two Things Every Novel Needs to Do

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

There are a lot of rules in writing, but only two you really need to follow.

I'm a big fan of the story. If I had to chose between a great story and great writing, I'd take story every time, because without a great story, who cares about the writing? I've seen wonderfully written manuals, but that didn't make me want to curl up with them in front of a fire. 

I've gotten myself into some debates over which is more important to a new writer. Should they focus on improving their writing or their story?

Knowing the rules is important. Writing is a skill, and there's only so far you can go with raw talent. At some point, you'll need to know what you're doing. But I also think that no matter how good a writer you are, if you're not also a storyteller, you won't go that far either.

Most readers don't pick up a book because the author is technically skilled--they pick it up because it sounds like a good story.

Ten Things to Remember if You Want to Be a Published Author

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Publishing is a crazy business, with both joys and sorrows at all levels. If you want to survive, it's important to keep things in perspective.

With computers, the physical exercise of writing has never been easier. You open a file, start typing and wham! You’re writing. Literally anyone can write and publish a book these days.

This can shine an unrealistic light on the whole process, and make writing a compelling novel look easy. Anyone who’s ever struggled over a stalled plot line or a character who didn't work can tell you writing isn't easy at all--or at least, writing a good novel isn't.

It takes work, craft, skill, and imagination. Most of all, it takes dedication and perseverance, and a faith that you will make it one day.

Rule The Roost—What Writing Rules Do You Always Get Wrong?

By Bonnie Randall 

Part of the How They Do It Series (Monthly Contributor)

Discussion time! Today’s all about those rules that elude you. You know them, but they just don’t sink in. They’re a lot like those words you consistently spell wrong (which, for me, are: calendar, receive, and judgement—and yep, I just watched my program correct them automatically because all three were wrong when I wrote ‘em).

So…writing rules you always get wrong. What are they? The top three on my list are:

6 Common Punctuation Mistakes (And How to Avoid Them)

By Laurisa White Reyes, @lwreyes

Part of the Indie Authors Series

Good punctuation skills are vital to writers no matter which publishing path they take, but are especially so for those traveling the indie path. Indie authors don't have the benefit of a stable of copy editors and proofreaders and must ensure their novels are in tip-top shape all on their own. First-timers to self publishing (and those with tight budgets) can't always afford a proofreader or editor to review their manuscripts, so it's up to them to get it to a professional level on their own. Please help me welcome Laurisa White Reyes to the lecture hall today, to help us with some pesky punctuation rules.

Laurisa holds a Master’s degree in English, is the Senior Editor at Skyrocket Press, and is the Editor-in-Chief of Middle Shelf Magazine. She is also the author of several fiction and non-fiction books, including The Celestine Chronicles and The Crystal Keeper series, The Storytellers, and Teaching Kids to Write Well: 6 Secrets Every Grown-Up Should Know. Her debut young adult novel, Contact, is set to be released in 2016 with Evernight Teen Publishing.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

Take it away Laurisa...

The Writing Process: Your Mileage May Vary (Or Why Breaking the Rules is Okay)

By Deanna Raybourn, @deannaraybourn

Part of the How They Do It Series

JH: It's always been my belief that there's no right way to write. So it delighted me when I heard the always-amazing Deanna Raybourn say the same thing at the Dahlonega Literary Festival a few years ago. Naturally, I had to invite her to the lecture hall to share her thoughts, and she graciously accepted (I'm pretty sure she does everything graciously). Please give her a warm welcome and enjoy her thoughts on breaking the writing rules and finding your own writing process.

A sixth-generation native Texan, New York Times bestselling author Deanna Raybourn graduated from the University of Texas at San Antonio with a double major in English and history and an emphasis on Shakespearean studies. She taught high school English for three years in San Antonio before leaving education to pursue a career as a novelist. She makes her home in Virginia, where she lives with her husband and daughter. Deanna’s upcoming release is A CURIOUS BEGINNING, the first installment in a new series featuring Victorian sleuth Veronica Speedwell (Sept. 1) in which Deanna promises not to kill the dog.

Website | Facebook | Twitter | Goodreads | Amazon | Barnes & Noble | iTunes | Indie Bound

Take it away Deanna...

How Soon Do We Need to Show Genre in Our Novels?

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

A reader asked (in reference to a comment I made in a Real Life Diagnostic)...

This is something I'm not sure I understand. If you pick a book off the shelf, you'll know it's sci-fi or fantasy or what have you by the section in the bookstore, the blurb, and possibly the cover. So do we really need to throw obvious genre flags into the first three paragraphs? I get that we want to give a sense of setting right away, but to me it doesn't seem necessary that the setting meet our expectations for genre right off the bat. That in itself would make me want to keep reading.

Short answer: No, you don't need obvious genre flags in the first three paragraphs. Or even the first three pages. Except on those occasions when you do need it.

Long answer: This is one of those "it all depends on the situation" questions.

Grammar and You: What You Need to Know to Write

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Publishing is a business, so to be part of that industry, you do need to write at a professional skill level. Understanding grammar and the mechanics behind writing is a must. Just like you can't figure skate in the Olympics if you don't know how to do any jumps, you can't publish if you don't know how to put sentences together correctly.

However...

These are skills you can learn. There are tons of books out there that can teach you proper grammar. And if you're a decent day-to-day writer, you might even have the basic skill set already, since writing is so much more than knowing "i before e except after c." Technical skill is only one part of it.

Kurt Vonnegut Can Bite Me

By Tiffany Reisz, @TiffanyReisz

Hi Readers and Writers!

Today we're talking about the rules of writing and when you should break them. What rules am I talking about? The rules that writers, professional and amateur, seem to think actually exist. Here's the thing about the rules of fiction writing--there are none. Every writer has his or her own way of doing things, and since it works for them, clearly it must the right way of doing things. 

Rules, Schmules: Don't Follow the Rules, Tell a Great Story

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

This might sound odd on a blog that is dedicated to ways to improve your writing, but if you're more concerned with the technical rules of writing than the story itself, you're hurting your chances of ever getting published.

Radical, isn't it?

To write well, stop trying so hard to write well.

What I mean by this crazy statement, is that we can ruin our writing by trying too hard to adhere to a lot of rules that aren't rules at all. Rules like:

• Never use adverbs
• Never start a story with dialog
• Never use backstory in the first fifty pages
• Show, never tell  

Work It, Work It: Breaking the Writing Rules

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

Chances are, you've either heard or said the words, "if it works, it works" at some point in your writing life. You've probably also said, "well that's not very helpful" or "I know this isn't helpful, but..." Since there are no real rules in writing, anything can be done, and sometimes breaking the norm is exactly what a story needs.

It's also something that's very compelling to try just to be different, usually with disastrous results. 

How do you know if "it works" or it's just a mess?

How to Make An (Exclamation) Point

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

OMG!!! You can't ever use exclamation points!!! Ever!!!

Exclamation points are a troublesome beast. Like adverbs, we get lots of advice to cut them out of our books. But like so many nevers, it's more about proper usage than the exclamation point itself. They do have uses and are valuable tools to show emphasis. But too many become visually distracting. If readers are yanked away from the story by punctuation, that's a problem.

She was so lost! She couldn't believe how stupid she was, leaving her compass in the tent! What an idiot! A total idiot! Arrgghhh!

Multiple exclamation points like this dilute the exclamation. Did you keep reading the sentences as exclamations, or did you just read them all the same intensity after the first few? If everything being said is exclaimed--and thus emphasized--then nothing stands out. If nothing stands out, what's the point of the exclamation point in the first place? Periods would achieve the same result.

Guest Author Carolyn Jewel: Paradox Lost and Paradox Regained

By Carolyn Jewel

One of the things I enjoy about the How They Do It column is seeing how other authors approach writing. It's especially fun when their approach is radically different from mine, because that helps prove something I'm a firm believer in: there is no right way to write. There's just your way.

Today, Carolyn Jewel is going to share her thoughts on this. I agree with her 100%, and love the way she approaches this topic. Proof that even when you agree, there are still different ways to tackle the same idea.

Carolyn Jewel is an award-winning author who's been writing stories ever since she could scribble. Now that she's grown up (mostly) she writes historical and paranormal romance because she loves history and imagining the lives of people who lived in years past, and because she's fascinated by the loves and travails of the not-exactly-human in any time period. Her new novel, My Dangerous Pleasure, releases today, so go check it out.

Take it away Carolyn...

Getting to the Next Writing Level

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

There’s a ton of information on the web about writing, querying, submitting, fixing your weak spots and improving your strong spots, but what do you do when you want to write, but have no clue how to get started? Or you’re not sure what to work on next to get to the next skill level? How do you turn it from a hobby to a possible career?

How much writing you’ve done and how solid your fundamentals are will determine how much work you might need to do to reach the professional level required for publishing. Here’s a general outline for gauging your ability and things you can do to get to the next level:

Playing by the Rules (of Magic)

By Janice Hardy, @Janice_Hardy

In fantasy, anything can happen, but if “anything” does happen, it can leave a reader cold. To make something feel real and seem plausible, you need rules to govern how it works. This holds doubly true for magic.

A great example of magic gone wild is watching a small child play. The dinosaurs are fighting with the GI Joes, and the child is making up events as she goes along. As soon as her hero gets in over his head, she pulls out something that saves the day. “Oh no! Joe is trapped by a deadly force field. But wait! He has a super duper force-field-breaking ring. He’s saved!” If the magic always gets you out of trouble, there’s no sense of risk and no real stakes. Great for playing, not so great for novels.