The golden rules of writing

[John Dean]

This is a subject I have broached in previous blogs but I feel that it is always worth returning to. As you may know, I teach writers both online and in person (they were the days!) and one of the things I focus on is my golden rules of writing.

This has come to mind again because I am running an online course at the moment and they form part of it. However experienced we are, I think it is useful to keep coming back to them because writing is all about honing your craft, whether you have had one hundred novels published or are working on your first.

Although writing is a hugely complex craft requiring the author to master a wide range of techniques, I believe that golden rules lie at its heart and that everything flows from them.

Every writer will have their own versions. Mine are:

Consider the reader - do not write for yourself, always write for the reader. That does not mean writing what you think they want to read but that you provide them with what they need to understand the story (but do hold things back for later in the story).

Be disciplined - you may wish to pack lots of information in but does the reader really need it all? You may know twenty things about a character but does the reader need to know them?

You may not have put enough information in - you can imagine where a scene is set but have you given the reader the information that they need to see what you can see?

Be brutal - if you have overwritten, chop out the fat when it comes to editing. If that leaves your story short of words, then find some better ones.

Acknowledge that you will never write the perfect story but you’re going to keep learning until you get close!

Understand these rules and you won’t go far wrong. And if you decide to break any of them (all rules are there to be challenged), you’ll have a good idea why!