26 Golden Rules for Writing

some basic rule's of grammar to which we would all Do well to adhere, to:

1.Don't abbrev.
2.Check to see if you any words out.

3.Be carefully to use adjectives and adverbs correct.

4.About sentence fragments.

5.When dangling, don't use participles.

6.Don't use no double negatives.

7.Each pronoun agrees with their antecedent.

8.Just between you and I, case is important.

9.Join clauses good, like a conjunction should.

10.Don't use commas, that aren't necessary.

11.Its important to use apostrophe's right.

12.It's better not to unnecessarily split an infinitive.

13.Never leave a transitive verb just lay there without an object.

14.Only Proper Nouns should be capitalized. also a sentence should begin with a capital letter and end with a full stop

15.Use hyphens in compound-words, not just in any two-word phrase.

16.In letters compositions reports and things like that we use commas to keep a string of items apart.

17.Watch out for irregular verbs that have creeped into our language.

18.Verbs has to agree with their subjects.

19.Avoid unnecessary redundancy.

20.A writer mustn't shift your point of view.

21.Don't write a run-on sentence you've got to punctuate it.

22.A preposition isn't a good thing to end a sentence with.

23.Avoid cliches like the plague.

24.1 final thing is to never start a sentence with a number.

25.Always check your work for accuracy and completeness.

Why Should the Reader Care About Your Story

The Story Question is something that can be unequivocally answered yes or no by the end of the story: WILL Taylor be able to convince Kristen to marry him? WILL Donna be able to realize her dream of being a rock star? Will the X-Thumpers be able to save their home world Terranthia from the invading evil aliens? Your protagonist will actively pursue this story goal, encounter many obstacles, bravely fight, learn something about him- or herself, and ultimately triumph (or not, although failure stories don't tend to be popular unless there is a compensatory win -- think Rocky).

Once you have a good story question you're almost there: you only need to make the reader CARE about whether the story question is answered. To do this, you simply have to make the reader care about the protagonist, and therefore since the protagonist cares about the story question the reader or viewer will also.

OK, so how do you make someone care about your protagonist? The quick answer is not necessarily to make him likeable, but instead to make him someone with whom the reader or viewer can identify with to understand why he does what he does in the story. There are several techniques you as the writer can use:

1. Create Sympathy -- if your protagonist suffers from something, whether an injustice, a physical defect, or a terrible loss of some sort, this will go a long way to create reader identification because the reader will feel sorry for him and therefore of course want him to win.

2. Jeopardy -- any time a character is in real danger, whether physical or emotional threat, the audience is riveted.

3. Likeable -- we all tend to want to be around pleasant rather than unpleasant people, and this is no different in stories. The person may behave well, or be funny, or be good at his job, or whatever -- he has likeable traits that the viewer can appreciate.

Another thing to remember is that a story question (which at the beginning can be a bridging question rather than the main one), and the protagonist, need to be established in your story as early as possible. Your audience needs to know who to root for, and what they're rooting for -- otherwise your story is irrelevant drivel that your audience will only have so much patience to plow through before throwing your book down in disgust. (Unless, of course, your reader is being forced to read this for a literature course in High School, but if this is the case you as the writer are probably dead now anyway :-)

Don't Waste Your Life

I don't remember who spoke at my high school graduation, but all these years later I do remember her opening line:

"You've already lived one quarter of your life."

This was powerful stuff for an eighteen year old. As I've thought back on her talk through the years, I am grateful that she pointed my attention to be careful, not to waste life, while I was still young.

Life IS very short, isn't it? When you're 18, it seems like it will last forever, but by the time you're 28 you've already made some pivotal decisions of the direction your life will go (marriage, career, family, location) and by the time you're 38 these decisions are even more entrenched. And so on. Yes, you can always alter your path, but it gets progressively harder.

And no matter what you do, the past years are already gone.

You feel the touch of the mortal hand: bodies age, people die, disappointments multiply, safeguards fail. Life is not limitless as it is when you're 18. More and more potentials become actualities as you build the legacy you will leave, stone by stone.

What legacy will you leave? Sweetness or bitter? Gratitude or anger? Emphasis on others or yourself?

You've heard this one before, but what would you do if you only had a day/week/month to live? Would you change your focus for these last hours or days, or would you more or less do what you're doing now? Do you think it's important if you'd change your focus? What is your guiding principle in life?

Will you choose to follow God? I believe this life is the only place you can freely make this decision, and also that this is the most important question of all.

Ponder these things. In the meantime, let me make the statement that the woman made to our high school class:

YOU'VE ALREADY LIVED A LARGE PROPORTION OF YOUR LIFE. DON'T WASTE WHAT'S LEFT.

Make your life count. Build your legacy, whether it is to play with your children, be with your family, or do your job that will make life better for many. Design that computer program, start your dream business,write  your masterpiece. Love and bless others. Search for truth. Search for God.

The Essence of Your Story

A common problem that occurs when writing a book or screenplay is that it loses focus. There are interesting subplots, and interesting side journeys, and after awhile it's hard to know what to pay attention to. Yes, ever since Tolkien published Lord of the Rings I know many writers want to do this sort of complex world-building, but frankly I haven't seen too many of these epics actually being published. Heck, even Peter Jackson found he had to cut A LOT of Tolkien's material in order to get a comprehensible story line -- and his movie masterpiece trilogy is still 9 + hours long.

It's worse if you're not even trying to branch your story out in 32,853,02 directions.

I'd like to propose a few easy questions for you to answer about your story, that should be able to focus you in to get your story started with minimal trauma. If you can answer these questions, you've got the story's spine. For every event or character that you want to add, simply ask yourself if it's consistent with what you've already laid out here. If it is, go for it. If not, get rid of it. This includes things like subplots: the subplot should either be adding a component that is necessary for the story usually at the finish, or following a mirror character where the character wants the same thing as the protagonist, but answers the question in a different way.

Ready? Here are a few questions to help you get at the essence of your story:

1. Who is your MAIN CHARACTER?

2. What external problem does your main character want to solve in the story? This is his OUTER GOAL. For example, he may want to win the big football game, or make a million dollars, or find a girlfriend.

3. Who or what is the chief OBSTACLE to your protagonist's achieving his outer goal?

4. What horrible things will happen if the protagonist cannot achieve his outer goal? This is the STAKES of your story.

5. What is your main character's HIDDEN NEED? This is a lack within your main character that he must solve before he can be happy. For example, he may need to forgive someone, or he may need to become courageous, or he may need to learn not to be selfish.

5. In one sentence, describe what your story is about.

These questions may be easy, or may take some thought. If you're having trouble, simply list, say, 10 or 20 stupid answers to the question. Then just pick one of these answers and see if you can fit it in; if you can't, choose another. Free-write your ideas so that you can tell a quick outline of your story in a paragraph or so. Figure out the captivating kernel of your story, whether character, plot twist, or something else.

Once you've got the basic direction of your story, you'll find it's much easier to start planning or writing.

Creating Tension in Your Story

Tension in your story must be in every chapter, every paragraph, and even every sentence. A good definition of tension might be: The uncertainty of at least one issue.

Tension is not generated when the writer describes exciting (or not so exciting) events that the protagonist wrestles through, but in the end these events don't push the story along. They simply add word count. For example, a POV character will find a chilled bottle of water, unscrew its tight cap, take a few sips of the cold liquid, then screw the lid back on and wipe her hands on her black summer-cloth-weight Capri pants, feeling refreshed now. If the character has arthritis then her method of opening a bottle might give a grace note to her character, but otherwise this is throwaway stuff.

So how might one push a story along? There are many techniques to do this. Perhaps the most reliable device to add tension is to include a ticking clock: a time limit to accomplish a goal.

The core principle is to consistently raise the stakes for the protagonist: put more in jeopardy, make it uncertain that the protagonist can accomplish a goal that is vital to him and for the long-term success for the story. Everything counts, including little actions. Who cares how the character opens a bottle of water? But if the character isn't sure that she will be able to sneak a sip of water to calm a cough before she has to make an announcement, it might become more interesting.

When you write a sentence, paragraph, scene, or more, ask yourself, “Do these words and events matter to the story?” If not, get rid of them.

Some Good Kindle Book Links

For those of you with a Kindle, you know or are learning the good and the bad of this sort of reading. I've had a Kindle since May 2010 and mostly love the darn thing, although I do have a few significant quibbles including an incomplete organizing system that makes me search through for books, high prices of many ebooks, and the vague feeling that Big Brother is watching every click of the page to tabulate my profile. Oh well, I have nothing to hide. I cannot tell you how liberating it is to carry my entire eclectic reading list in one small package that fits into my purse, and the screen even lights up for easy night reading in bed.

For all you Nook readers or those with other e-readers, I mean no disrespect. I think any of these e-readers has similar benefits; it's just that I happen to have a Kindle.

But today's column is for the Kindle, specifically some good links. Here they are:

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FREE KINDLE BOOKS

Go to this link: http://www.amazon.com/gp/bestsellers/digital-text

This list is updated hourly, so check here often. This list mixes new books with public-domain classics such as Sherlock Holmes. Publishers often offer their new books for a short time for free.

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BARGAIN EBOOKS

Go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/399books

Every month Amazon chooses 100 e-books to offer for $3.99 or less. The selection rotates on the first on the month.

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CUSTOMER SUPPORT

Go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/kindle-cs

The Kindles can be confusing, and like all electronic devices can break. This page has many FAQ lists to help you through troubleshooting your Kindle. If you're really stuck, there is a big yellow CONTACT US button located at the top right of the page. You can ask questions through email or talk to a real, live person immediately. If your Kindle is broken, Amazon typically sends a replacement unit to you overnight. Since your e-books are stored in the cloud, they can be easily transferred to the new device.

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RETURN AN E-BOOK

Go to this link: http://tinyurl.com/returnanebook

The Kindle store opens with the "Buy" button highlighted on any book you want to just read about, making it easy to purchase something by accident. If you need to return the ebook, or anything else, check out this page. You need to scroll a little to find the ebook section. Amazon lets you return any ebook within 7 days, no questions asked.

Discouraging Words are Dream Killers

In my writers group this weekend a newbie hadn't done any writing this month, and said frankly she wasn't going to go ahead with what she'd been thinking. Last month she'd been so excited about starting her project.

"Gayle, what's wrong?"

She laughed nervously. "I just don't think it's a good idea. My sister said there are a million books on this topic, and I'm wasting my time reinventing the wheel."

I asked if the sister had ever written a book. No. Had the sister done research on this topic? No. As a matter of fact, Gayle is taking a common problem but has a unique spin on it, and frankly IMHO has a good chance of making it in this tough market. I took a few minutes to explain why her sister would not be a potential buyer for her book, but in fact there are many people out there who WOULD be. The sister is not able to perceive this difference -- since SHE doesn't like it, NO ONE will like it. Flawed thinking.

Happily, after a few minutes of a pep talk Gayle is ready now to go ahead again. She wants to start this month by building a few reserve entries for a blog she will create this summer, and use these to help focus her area of expertise. This is the type of tiny goal that she feels she can do to start to hook into the project. Three cheers!

I see this discouragement a lot when writers parade fragile ideas before friends or family. While it's fine to tell people you're writing something, until you've already got a good hunk of it I don't recommend telling them the specifics of what you're writing, for the simple reason that it may be difficult-to-impossible to convey what you see. The idea at this beginning stage is malleable and changing, and the writer may not know at this point what makes it exciting, much less be able to express it.

If you do tell someone they will not *get* why this idea is attractive. The best response (from your mother) is a tepid pat on the head and a "Good for you, Dear." Most people say, "Huh," and then start to tell you about their own book ideas. A few, like Gayle's sister, are dream killers. They may not even be aware that they are dream killers, but they are.

Don't let discouraging words kill your dreams. Trust in yourself that even if (ironically) you can't verbally express what you're trying to do, you WILL be able to do it. Writing is not done quickly -- it takes regular work, five to seven days a week, to put a few words down at a time. All writers think while they're writing that the words are terrible. Many times this is correct but the only way to get past this is to KEEP WRITING. The reason more people don't write books is because they're unable to get past this self-criticism.

Don't tell people what you're doing. Don't kill your dreams. Just do it.