Comments on: Rules? What Rules?

By: 17 “Rules” of Writing from famous authors | Bird in a Bowler

17 “Rules” of Writing from famous authors | Bird in a Bowler — Wed, 20 Mar 2013 09:38:23 +0000

[...] Patricia Wrede’s blog post “Rules? What rules?“ [...]

By: Mary

Mary — Sun, 21 Aug 2011 22:24:00 +0000

I never quite got the reasoning behind the “always show, don’t tell” concept. Admittedly, some school writing excercises on showing (including “showing” how messy an imaginary locker was and how terrified a teacher was of a mouse) were fun. In some cases where we had two examples of “showing” vs. “telling” and the “showing” was supposed to be better, I actually thought that the telling was the better way to write the example. My teacher, however, taught us that that somewhere in the middle between the two extremes was best. I think that this “rule” gets taught a lot in schools because so many kids over-simplify things and tell the story, without ANY showing at all. I know a good number of my classmates do this much of the time. But still, writing “rules” are often guidelines. . . a fact which I think gets neclected.

By: Brynn

Brynn — Wed, 17 Aug 2011 16:45:54 +0000

This post lifted a huge load off me I get mad when I have to use passive voice, but it’s true – nothing else will work there!

And I try not to overuse adverbs, but I do use them…

And using show-not-tell for everything tends to slow my story down.

So THANKS!

By: David Y

David Y — Sun, 14 Aug 2011 03:46:39 +0000

Those who object to first person need to read Wodehouse’s Jeeves stories. But only PGW could write in a way that convinced you the story was being told by a twit who was probably too stupid to write it.

By: ABeth

ABeth — Thu, 11 Aug 2011 23:00:48 +0000

I recently traumatized my Grammar Checker, in Word. Including something it dinged for “passive voice” — the suggested rewrite was painful.

I got bored with torturing it, though, and turned it off again. Spellcheck, I’ll keep! I keep forgetting which vowel to use in some words, till I give up ynd jyst ysy “y” fyr yvyrythyng.

By: pcwrede

pcwrede — Mon, 08 Aug 2011 12:56:26 +0000

Mary Holland – What you said.

Jane – And furthermore “was sitting” IS NEITHER PASSIVE NOR PASSIVE VOICE. It’s past progressive. Maybe The Deluxe Transitive Vampire would convince them? The section on progressive tenses is as hilarious as everything else; the author uses “to mope” as the verb in that section, so the example sentences are “I am moping” “I was moping,” “I had been moping” and “I will have been moping.” Plus the very fine extra example “I was just minding my own business when the samovar suddenly blew up.”

Elaine – That may have been where they started, but I didn’t see even one web site that quoted the last bit, and about 80% didn’t attribute them at all. Also, quite a lot of them have been around since before Leonard started writing; I inherited my mother’s collection of how-to-write books, and some of those so-called rules appear in books from the 1930s and 40s.

Suzi McGowen – That is a really good way of looking at it, especially if one acknowledges that sometimes things go on sale!

By: Suzi McGowen

Suzi McGowen — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:51:15 +0000

Over at Magical Words, they had an essay called “They’re not rules, they’re price tags”. I love that idea.

By: Elaine

Elaine — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 22:04:46 +0000

I think some of these “rules” are from an interview with Elmore Leonard and he ended with “and if it doesn’t work throw out these rules”.

By: Jane

Jane — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 20:47:37 +0000

Thank you! I find the obsession with anything that might remotely be considered passive voice particularly bothersome.

If I write that a character “was sitting” that’s a different statement than “he sat”. One’s ongoing description; one could be a single action.

Can’t convince some of my critique group of that, though.

By: Mary Holland

Mary Holland — Sun, 07 Aug 2011 19:10:42 +0000

Thank you for this post.

“And the verb “to be” is not only arguably the single most useful verb in the English language, it is an indispensable part of several tenses (the perfect and progressive ones); throwing it out completely and indiscriminately is very much a baby-with-the-bathwater thing.”

I’ve dropped out of a critique group because one participant demanded I remove all “to be” verb forms and omit past progressive tense use. She insisted they were passive voice. She didn’t care for “said” and wanted that changed also.

Heaven defend us from the Grammar Police, particularly when they’re wrong!