Six Writing Rules I Cannot Follow By Nancy Allen
When I was writing my first book in the
Ozarks Mystery series, The Code of the
Hills, I read every piece of writing advice I could find, scouring the
internet for nuggets of wisdom. I absorbed many tips, so much wise counsel. But
what I recall best are the rules I routinely break. I thought I’d share the top
six writing rules I simply can’t follow.
1. WRITE EVERY DAY.
Really? Every day?!? What about my
birthday? National holidays? How about Thanksgiving??? On Thanksgiving, I have
to make a turkey dinner with all the trimmings, and clean up afterwards. I
can’t write my own name on Thanksgiving.
Yesyesyes, I understand: if you want to be
a writer, you have to write. But I suspect that those who declare that they
write every day without fail are fibbers.
2. SET ASIDE A DESIGNATED PLACE TO WRITE.
Ooooohhh, that sounds so luxurious: like
Ernest Hemingway in Key West, typing away in his writer’s den.
But like most writers, I have a day job:
I’m on the law faculty at Missouri State University. I write at odd times and
places: in my living room chair, in the parking lot waiting to pick up my kid
after practice, in the passenger seat of a car. For me, the magic isn’t in a designated
spot. The key is to seize the available moment when it appears.
3. DON’T USE METAPHORS.
Damn! I hate that one. Because sometimes,
something is like something else. I LOVE a good metaphor.
4. NEVER USE CLICHES.
I find this piece of literary advice soooo
cliché.
5. AVOID REGIONAL DIALOGUE.
Well, I’ll be dog.
My novels are set in the Ozark hill
country. Believe me, there are regional speech patterns that are unique to the
setting. In fact, what you’uns call regional dialect is what we’uns consider everyday
speech.
6. CUT EVERY SINGLE UNNECESSARY WORD.
I try, really.
Cut every unnecessary word.
Cut unnecessary words.
Cut words.
Cut.
Hmmmm. Something was lost in the process.
Must ignore Rule #6 and reinsert words.
So those are a few of the rules that I’ve
thrown to the winds. I’m not advocating that anyone should follow my bad
example. I’m kind of a rabble-rouser, a rule-breaker from way back—just like my
protagonist, the incorrigible Ozarks prosecutor, Elsie Arnold. Check her out in
my new book, A Killing at the Creek. She’s one of a kind!
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Nancy Allen
February 17, 2015
Witness Impulse
E-Book
Fiction / Legal
$2.99 USD, $2.99 CAD, £1.99, €2.40
|
Prosecutor Elsie Arnold loves her small-town home in the Ozark hills, but she’s been waiting for a murder to come along and make her career. So when a body is found under a bridge, throat cut, Elsie jumps at the chance to work on the case, even if it’s alongside the brash new chief assistant, Chuck Harris—and her latest flame, Detective Bob Ashlock.
But when the investigation reveals that the deceased woman was driving a school bus, and the police locate the vehicle, its interior covered in blood, the occupant and only suspect is a fifteen-year-old boy. Elsie’s in for more than she bargained for.
Win or lose, this case will haunt her. No one has successfully prosecuted a juvenile for first-degree murder in McCown County. If she loses, it’s her career on the line and a chilling homicide unresolved; if she wins, a boy’s liberty will be taken from him before he reaches his sixteenth birthday.
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