Whenever I come across an article about bettering your writing, I always take the time to read it because, duh. But I've learned to take the advice of others with a grain of salt. And I often disagree completely with what other writer's ideas of "dos and don'ts" are.
Don't get me wrong, I'm not one of those writers who is unwilling to change their story because they think it's perfect the way it is. Uh, no. If that was the case, why would I be reading all these articles in the first place? I'm not in denial of my faults and limitations. I just don't like the "new" ideas of how writing should be done or these rules that are becoming the known, common thing in the writing community. (Like, everyone knows that!)
One thing that every editor and blogger in the world is saying now is this: never use the word suddenly. Apparently, nothing happens suddenly in novels. Things happen or don't happen. There are no sneaky people or unexpected magic. Let's have a look at these two sentences.
Jim was standing by the road talking. A car hit him.
Jim was standing by the road talking when suddenly a car hit him.
I guess I'm just weird because I like the second sentence better. But you should NEVER DO THAT! According to the web, never use the word suddenly. Or the word very. Just take them out of your vocabulary.
Writers are also supposed to never use adverbs and crack down on your use of adjectives. Basically, take your dictionary and rip about half the pages out of it.
We need to make our sentences short and choppy. Writers shouldn't be too wordy. We don't need to overly describe anything. Yet we have to make our readers taste, see and hear every little detail of the surroundings in a scene. We have to create lush worlds and draw our readers into them. Huh?
Oh, and never use the passive voice. That is a thing that writers never do.
There are so many rules and guidelines on the web for writers. It seems like anyone who's ever had anything published has writing tips to share with others (Myself included.) Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying that this is a bad thing. There are a number of blog posts that have helped me hone my skills as a writer and I'm very thankful.
I guess what I'm really trying to say here is that you shouldn't read any of these articles before you write. Just write your story. If you're busy worrying about overusing adjectives while you're writing, you'll never be able to concentrate on the story itself. Worry about that first. That's why it's called a first draft. You have to go back and tinker with it to prepare it for reader's eyes. And every writer, even the professionals who've been doing this for years, have to go back and clean up the first draft.
I just think the tinkering should be judged case by case. Just look at some famous modern writers who are overly wordy. Why, some even use the passive voice! *Horror music sounds in the background*
I still read every article I come across. How can I not when so many have helped me? But I also still use the word suddenly sometimes. Maybe an editor will scoff at the use but oh well. I just can't remove the word from my dictionary. I'm very, very bad.
There are three rules for writing a novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are. ― W. Somerset Maugham
Don’t take anyone’s writing advice too seriously. – Lev Grossman
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