It almost feels like heresy to say so, but you don’t have to follow all the rules.  At least not in your writing. 

The trick to breaking the rules of writing is just like the trick to breaking the rules in life – you have to know when to do it.  Not when you can get away with it, but when you should.

Should? 

I can feel the disapproval of some of my friends raining down on me.  Some people can never find a time when the rules should be broken, but there are times when one really must. 

There’s a catch, however.  In order to know when to break the rules, one must know them to begin with.   And one must know their audience.   For instance, in a term paper or letter to the parents of school children, one should never ever end a sentence with a preposition.  Why?  Because they all know that you shouldn’t, and if you do, they’ll think you’re somewhat uneducated or sloppy – and they won’t want to send their children to your school.  But a blog can be written in a much more conversational manner, and you can end every sentence with a preposition – if you want to. (Ha!)

In copywriting, we break all the rules.  Sentence fragments, non-words, grammatically incorrect capitalization, dashes where there ought to be commas… It all goes… (And here’s the big key) DEPENDING ON YOUR AUDIENCE!  That’s the number one mistake I’ve seen from newer copywriters – they forget the intended audience of their work.  So we get super hip copy for products targeted to a conservative audience, or, worse, super stuffy copy intended to sell seventeen year old boys on a product.

If you want to write marketing copy (or if you have to), consider your target market, consider the time you have to capture their attention, and start breaking any rule you have to in order to deliver your message and sell that product. 

In fiction or article work, there are often good reasons to break the rules.  If a story were written with perfect grammar in this day and age, most people (most) would never want to take the time to slog through it.  We think in fragments, and reading a well placed fragment is much better than too much explanation.  And then there’s dialogue.  Have you ever read a story where every one in it speaks in perfectly complete sentences?  It’s horrible.  Unless your characters are some sort of alien race who studied human language from a grammar book, you can’t get away with it.

That’s it for tonight.  I’m off to a family reunion this weekend, but I hope to stop by Writers, Like Me somewhere in between the potato salad and the camp fire.

Until then, have a great weekend!

All the best,

Mary

Howdy, pilgrim

In the last week, I’ve watched three John Wayne movies.  The cowboy kind, not the war pictures.  Oh, I could have turned the channel, I’d never watched him much, thinking him too much of a caricature. But I decided to view the movies with open eyes.

Lessons learned

First, they were expertly crafted by Hollywood’s top directors.  Howard Hawks and John Ford rarely made clunkers.  Every shot and line of dialogue had meaning.  There was no fluff, no filler, no throw aways.  They were very economically made, probably because the budgets were so low.

Speaking of dialogue, it was crisp, with unexpected humor, especially in the interaction between Wayne’s character and the female interest.   Oftentimes, the swaggering sheriff/land owner was tongue tied around the ladies, which made his character more human.

The line between good and evil was sharply drawn.  The greedy ex-con bent on derailing the cattle drive or the lawless rancher muscling into town to spring his murderous brother, the antagonists were vile and black hearted and without shadings of gray.  They had a clear motivation and a simple goal and wouldn’t let anyone stop them.

Men were real men.  An unspoken code of justice and morality drove Wayne’s character into doing what was right, no matter what the obstacle – drought, bullets, ambushes or a faithless friend.  He persevered, sometimes to the death.

Loyalty and faithfulness underwrote the theme of the movies.  Marriages lasted for decades and friends stood by friends despite trying circumstances.

My brief sojourn into Wayne’s World (sorry, it was unavoidable) taught me to reach for a higher standard, delineate my characters, give them a true purpose and make them riveting, even in the quiet times when not much seems to be happening.

Thanks, Duke!

Take care,

Cheryl

Why writing exercises?  Because they keep your creative juices flowing.  They unblock you mind when all it can see is a blank page.  And, as your mother would say, “they build character.”

Sometimes life hands us a writing exercise – thank you notes, condolence cards, cover letters… There’s always a reason to write.  But Father’s Day presents a few options to celebrate the subject of dads.

Today is the perfect day to write something nice to your dad.  Remember the cards you used to make as a kid?  Outshine Hallmark  and write your own card again.  Better yet – write him a letter.  I guarantee he’ll be surprised.

If you’ve lost your father, take a few minutes to write down some of the memories you have of him.  Did he have a favorite war story?  A crazy tradition that you miss?  He may be gone, but your memories live on – and they’ll last longer if you record them.

It could be that you had one of those less-than-ideal fathers.  If so, it can be quite freeing to write a letter to him.  Let him know how he let you down.  Let him know what you wish he had been like.  Detail how you’ll treat your kids better.  And, if you have it in you, offer your forgiveness – you won’t believe how much better you’ll feel.  It doesn’t matter if he ever gets the letter; in this case, it’s the writing of it that counts.

If you never knew your dad or lost him early in life, write what you knew about him and what you imagine he might have been like.  Don’t try to make him some sort of paragon of fatherhood.  Be honest.  Be generous.  Try to keep it realistic.

What can you do with these pieces?  Well, some of them can be sent to your dad.  (Be careful, though.  It’s hard to take back the written word.)  Others can be tucked in a drawer.  And it might be best if some never make it past the delete button.  But I challenge you to choose one and find the right words to express yourself, preserve your memories, or comfort yourself.

If you write fiction, save a copy of the piece for a character file.  You never know when you’ll need those words to explain a character or get into his head.

Cheryl will be here this week with more of her terrific advice and content. Enjoy, and, as always, keep writing.

All the best,

Mary