Rules of Writing Series: Breaking the Big Rules
If you talk to most authors for any length of time about the craft, you’ll quickly learn that most believe there are very few rules in writing that cannot be broken. That is not to say that the rules should be blatantly disregarded. They shouldn’t. But, there is a time and a place in which the rules can be bent, ignored or simply rewritten. Over the coming weeks, I’ll be posting about some of those rules and when/why they should be broken in addition to the typical book reviews and general postings.
That said, let’s start this series off with the big one, shall we?
The dreaded spelling and grammar. You might well hear that one should never disregard proper spelling and grammar in writing. I most respectfully disagree.
Let’s face it; there might just be more rules regarding the proper use of the English language than there are people in the United States. Generally speaking, knowing how to use the English language correctly in writing is a good thing. But, knowing when to ignore those rules can be an even better thing.
When you read a historical, say from the Regency period, and your hero or heroine is speaking with a street urchin who has had nothing resembling a formal education; would you really believe it if every word that came from said urchin’s mouth was perfectly spoken? What about if you’re reading a contemporary novel, romance or otherwise, and your character is speaking to a teenager. Would you believe it if every word that teenager spoke was perfectly correct? Would you believe it if every internal thought a character had came in complete, perfectly constructed sentences? Likely not.
Understanding when to break the rules and when to follow those rules can add depth to a story that would never be attained were the entire story written in perfect, precise English. At the same time, a great author can add levels and depth to each individual character simply by changing the patterns of speech when writing from the perspective of that character.
Another important point that should be made here deals with slang. There is a time and a place to use slang and a time and place in which slang should be left alone. You wouldn’t have your medieval characters using today’s slang and, in most situations, your contemporary characters wouldn’t use medieval speech patterns. Your 90 year old characters probably wouldn’t make a regular habit of using the same slang as your 16 year old characters and your 16 year old characters probably aren’t going to have a “knee’s up” like your 90 year old characters might.
Obviously, that’s not always the case either and that’s where knowing when to break the rules comes into play. Your eccentric 90 year old character might well attempt to “get jiggy with it,” your old soul in a 16 year old’s body might well go “out yonder,” your contemporary character might well say “tis and shan’t.” But chances are, your medieval character (unless he or she is a time traveling fool) probably isn’t going to break out with a “lamespice” or a “make it snappy.” Know when to use it and when to leave it alone; and don’t make a habit of overusing slang. Allow it to mingle with proper English or you might well find that your readers find said character annoying.
Which brings me to the spelling point. It’s important. And most of the time, it’s darn important. And failing to use it properly to no real purpose is incredibly annoying. One shouldn’t misspell words unless those misspellings have a point. For instance, spelling definitely as “definitaly” or “higher” as “hire” is typically not a good thing. If your character, however, is looking at a note in which those words are misspelled, it might be acceptable. If you’re dealing with a time period in which words were spelled differently than they are today or a world in which the language is similar but has those distinct variations, it would be acceptable to stick to the spelling of that time period or world. You, obviously, don’t want to do it so often that readers can’t keep up; but it can add to the story to do so occasionally.
In short, break the rules when breaking the rules adds to the story, but don’t do it so often that you wind up taking away from the story instead of adding to it and don’t do it without reason. Breaking to rules just to break the rules can be irritating for the reader.
Miss Read Alot 