Writers in the Storm

A blog about writing

storm moving across a field
March 1, 2023

Writing Rules to Make you Shine, not Whine

by Margie Lawson

Images of rules (law books, scale) with shining background

Have you ever researched writing rules? Wowzee! There are hundreds of them. If you tried to follow them all you’d be paralyzed.

But some are so make-you-and-your-writing-stronger smart, they’re worth sharing.

I’ve pulled together writing rules from several authors:  Stephen King, Jodi Picoult, Maya Angelou, Jack London, Elmore Leonard, and Neil Gaiman

Take what fits and ignore the rest.

We’ll start with some popular ones that you probably know. It’s always good to be reminded.

Popular Writing Rules

1. Write every day. Or write five or six days a week. Stick to your plan.
2. Read. Read. Read. In your genre. Outside your genre.
3. Protect your writing time and space. Ask family and friends to honor your writing and not interrupt you.
4. Don’t try to write something that will please your grandmother.
5. Don’t write for the market. Write the story that speaks to you.
6. Don’t let research take over your story.
7. Find your voice. It may take writing half of a book or more, but it will surface.
8. Let your story flow. Get it on the page. Edit later.
9. Set writing goals.
10. Writers need writers. Reach out and connect with other writers.

Stephen King’s Writing Rules

1. First write for yourself, and then worry about the audience. 
2. Don’t use passive voice. 
3. Avoid adverbs. 
4. Don’t obsess over perfect grammar. 
5. The magic is in you. 

“I’m convinced that fear is at the root of most bad writing. Dumbo got airborne with the help of a magic feather; you may feel the urge to grasp a passive verb or one of those nasty adverbs for the same reason. Just remember before you do that Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.”

6. Eliminate distractions.
7. You have three months. 

“The first draft of a book—even a long one—should take no more than three months, the length of a season.”

8. Take a break.

“If you’ve never done it before, you’ll find reading your book over after a six-week layoff to be a strange, often exhilarating experience. It’s yours,  yet it will also be like reading the work of someone else, a soul-twin, perhaps. This is the way it should be, the reason you waited. It’s always easier to kill someone else’s darlings that it is to kill your own.”

9. Leave out the boring parts and kill your darlings.

“Mostly when I think of pacing, I go back to Elmore Leonard, who explained it so perfectly by saying he just left out the boring parts. This suggests cutting to speed the pace, and that’s what most of us end up having to do (kill your darlings, kill your darlings, even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.)”

10. Writing is about getting happy.

“Writing isn’t about making money, getting famous, getting dates, getting laid, or making friends. In the end, it’s about enriching the lives of those who will read your work, and enriching your own life, as well. It’s about getting up, getting well, and getting over. Getting happy, okay?”

From Jodi Picoult:

“When you’re stuck, and sure you’ve written absolute garbage, force yourself to finish and THEN decide to fix or scrap it - or you will never know if you can.”

From Maya Angelou:

“You have to get to a very quiet place inside yourself. And that doesn’t mean that you can’t have noise outside. I know some people who put Jazz on, loudly, to write. I think each writer has her or his secret path to the muse.”

From Jack London:

“You can’t wait for inspiration, you have to go after it with a club.”

From Elmore Leonard:

“If it sounds like writing, I rewrite it.”


Our last set of writing rules is from Neil Gaiman.

Neil Gaiman’s Top 13 Writing Rules

1. Use lies to communicate truths

“Fiction stories are one of the most interesting phenomena that human beings have…Stories are part of us, and we convey truth with stories, which is fundamentally the most gloriously giant contradiction that you can ever imagine. What we’re saying is, we are using lies, we’re using memorable lies, we are taking people who do not exist and things that did not happen to those people in places that aren’t, and we are using those things to communicate true things to kids and to each other.”

2. Acknowledge your growth areas

“The hardest time for me was starting out as a very, very young writer. I wrote short stories and sent them out to places that could conceivably publish them, and they all came back. And I looked at the stories which went out and came back and went out and came back, and I thought, ‘Okay, well one of two things is true here. Either I’m not good enough or I don’t understand the world, there’s stuff I don’t get, there’s stuff I need to know.’”

3. Start a compost heap

“Everything you encounter in life has the potential to influence your work: overheard dialogue in a coffee shop, that song on the radio you can’t get out of your head, the television scene that perfectly depicts the sexual tension of a first date. Don’t limit yourself to only the influences in your genre. Drink from a wide-brimmed glass of creative inspiration.”

4. Reveal a little too much of yourself

“Every story contains a snapshot of its creator. Are you refusing to pose for that picture? Give your readers what they want: a story with personality and authenticity.”

5. Pay attention to the strangeness of humanity

“People are so much more interesting and strange and more unlikely than anything you could make up. Strange people and stories are all around you. You just need to take the time to look for them. Great characters and stories are borne from true characters and true stories.”

6. Don’t tell readers how to feel

“I would much rather not tell you how to feel about something. I would rather you just felt it. I will tell you what happens, and if I leave you crying because I just killed a unicorn, I’m not gonna tell you how sad the death of the unicorn was. I’m gonna kill that unicorn, and I’m gonna break your heart.”

7. Get the bad stories out of your pen

“I think as a writer, and especially as a young writer, your job is to get the bad words out, the bad sentences out, the stories that aren’t any good yet. You think it’s a great story, you think it’s a great idea, you think it’s good at least — and it may be — but the most important thing is just you got it out.”

8. Stumble upon your voice

“After you’ve written 10,000 words, 30,000 words, 60,000 words, 150,000 words, a million words, you will have your voice, because your voice is the stuff you can’t help doing.”

9. Create mutually exclusive desires

“Everything is driven by want. Everything is driven by need. And everything is driven by characters wanting different things, and those different things colliding. And every moment that one character wants something and another character wants something mutually exclusive and they collide, every time that happens, you have a story.”

10. Give your characters “funny hats.”

“When you have a lot of characters wandering around, you need to help your reader…And one of the ways that I’ve always liked to do that is what I call ‘funny hats’…You give your character something that makes that character different from every other character in the book.”

11. Ask yourself, “What is this story about?”

“The process of doing your second draft is a process of making it look like you knew what you were doing all along.”

12. Separate feedback from advice

“You always have to remember when people tell you that something doesn’t work for them, that they’re right. It doesn’t work for them. You also have to remember that when people tell you what they think is wrong and how you should fix it, that they’re almost always wrong. If you try and fix things their way, you’ll be writing their story, and you have to write yours.”

13. Do just enough research

“It’s like you’re a smash-and-grab robber. You are gonna put that brick through the window, then you’re gonna reach in and grab everything that you need and run away and use it, because honestly, you don’t want to spend ten years researching manners and morays in British public schools of the 1870s in order to get your story perfect.”

Wrapping Up

I’ll remember that smash-and-grab robber. I bet you will too!

Some of those rules may help you get through a tough patch or a tough scene. You may want to review the rules I shared and create your own list.

This piece you read from Stephen King may be worth printing in large font and putting it up where you’ll see it every day.

Even when it breaks your egocentric little scribbler’s heart, kill your darlings.

IT’S YOUR TURN!

Want to share a writing rule that speaks to you?

Post a comment – and you’ll be in the drawing for the course I’m teaching this month: 

Not Your Mama’s Character Descriptions!

That’s a $120 value!

The drawing will be at 8:00 p.m. Mountain Time. Class starts today, so the winner can pop in class tomorrow.

* * * * * *

About Margie

Margie Presenting

Margie Lawson left a career in psychology to focus on another passion—helping writers make their writing bestseller strong. Using a psychologically based deep-editing approach, Margie teaches writers how to bring emotion to the page. Emotion equals power. Power grabs readers and holds onto them until the end. Hundreds of Margie grads have gone on to win awards, find agents, sign with publishers, and hit bestseller lists. Some have had their books turned into Hallmark movies, and a few have drama series in development. 

A popular international presenter, Margie has taught over 150 full-day master classes in the U.S., Canada, Australia, New Zealand, and France, as well as multi-day intensives on cruise ships in the Caribbean. She’s taught close to 200 Immersion Master Classes across the U.S. and Canada, and in seven cities in Australia too. 

She also founded Lawson Writer's Academy, where you’ll find over 30 instructors teaching online courses through her website. To learn more and sign up for Margie’s newsletter, visit www.margielawson.com.

Check out Lawson Writer’s Academy Courses for March!

  1. Not Your Mama’s Character Descriptions
  2. Empowering Character’s Emotions
  3. Dazzling Developmental Edits
  4. Mind Map
  5. The Eight Crafts of Writing
  6. Crazy-Easy Awesome Author Websites
  7. Make ‘Em Laugh, How to Write a Comedy Screenplay
  8. Just for You, Intensive Mentorship
  9. Navigating the Tightrope Between Historical Fact and Historical Fiction

Top image via Canva.

66 comments on “Writing Rules to Make you Shine, not Whine”

  1. Yes, this one's a keeper. Lots of good advice from people who know, who have the published books to prove they put this advice into practice in their own work. And the generosity to pass on what they know to those coming along behind them.

    Thank you, Margie

    1. Hello Julia --

      You made an excellent point. Writers are generous to pass on what works for them. We can all benefit from their encouragement and expertise. And it's validating to know many of them struggled too!

      Thank you for sharing!

    1. Hello John --

      I don't think we've cyber-connected before.

      Ah... Manchester, England. I've been there, and loved it. And I'm going back to the U.K. this summer. I'll be teaching and playing.

      Glad some of these rules spoke to you. Thanks for posting!

      1. Hello Margie,

        Nice to connect with you. I'm hoping to connect with more writers in the future.

        Manchester is good. I'm a bit biased though.

        Look forward to more interesting posts in future. I'm also hoping to blog more in the future as well.

  2. Thank you so much for putting this list together, Margie. So many fantastic and inspiring ideas and reminders here!

    I especially liked Neil Gaiman's suggestions of Don't Tell Your Reader What to Feel, and to Give your Characters Funny Hats, simple and fun ways to remember some excellent advice.

    1. Hello Becky --

      I miss you!

      Glad you found some keepers. Love those writing rules from Neil Gaiman too. Definitely winners!

      Thanks for posting! And, as always, thanks for teaching for Lawson Writer's Academy too!

      1. Miss you too, Margie!

        Hope to see you in the UK this year!! (All fingers and toes crossed :-))

  3. Tons of brilliance today, Margie. I'm blowing up and putting on my desk, 'Dumbo didn’t need the feather; the magic was in him.'

    So great to see you back here!

    1. Hello Laura --

      I have that image of Dumbo and the feather in my mind. It's such a fun and memorable way to remind us about our magic.

      It's great to be back here!

      I'll be guest blogging on WITS again on April 3rd. And I'll share a writing craft blog then!

    1. Hello Ritu --

      You shared a smart rule:

      Write about any topic that affects you. Worry about fitting into the genre later.

      Thanks for posting!

    1. Hello Sylvie!

      So fabulous to see you again. I've enjoyed seeing pictures of your cute little puppy on Fb. What a love!

      Glad you got a lot out of this blog. The magic is within you!

      Thanks for posting!

  4. I too like the smash-and-grab-robber idea. Readers don’t want to be bogged down with a history lesson while in the middle of a fun ride. When it makes sense I smash-and-grab by reaching out to people in the field. Right now I’m in contact with the owner of an apple orchard four states away. Through emails with her I’ve received more than just information. I’ve been given a particular feel for the life.

    1. Hello Kathryn --

      You were so smart to reach out to the owner of an apple orchard. Sounds like such a valuable connection. She enriched your story, and I bet you enriched her life!

      I hope your experience will motivate others to reach out to get what they need instead of just researching online.

      Thanks so much for sharing!

  5. An excellent summary of good advice. I particularly like Neil Gaman's, and especially his #6. Kill the unicorn and break their hearts. Just imagining it breaks mine. That's how I want to write.

    1. Hello Virginia --

      Neil Gaiman's talent grabs our minds and hearts.

      Imagining killing the unicorn broke my heart too.

      I'm glad you want to write like that.

      Just have to add -- my psychologically-based deep editing will teach you how to empower emotion on every page.

      An excellent summary of good advice. I particularly like Neil Gaman's, and especially his #6. Kill the unicorn and break their hearts. Just imagining it breaks mine. That's how I want to write.

    1. Hello Lynette --

      Love that you referenced Stephen King's 10th writing rule: Writing is about getting happy.

      Sometimes we all need that reminder.

      Writing and teaching and presenting make me happy!

    1. Rhonda --

      You are sooo sweet!

      Thanks for telling the WITS world that my classes are the best!

      Glad you liked what I shared in the blog too.

      Hope to see you here when I'm back on WITS on April 3rd with a writing craft blog!

      BTW -- Mark your calendar for my GET HAPPY Virtual Open House! It's next Tuesday, March 7th. Pop into my website anytime between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time and click on the GET HAPPY meme. And you'll be zapped to my Zoom room. It's totally casual. Just chatting and laughing.

      EVERYONE IS WELCOME!

  6. It is good to have writing rules and good to break them. Hemingway was kind of scattershot with his advice for other writers, whom he despised. His best bit of advice/rule was this: Begin with one true sentence. That is a high bar and a vital start to any story. If you can truly do that, you are off and running on your story no matter what other barriers you may find. Thanks for the column; it is helpful to revisit these maxims every few months--just when we feel we know it all!

    1. Hello Gregory --

      It's great to e-meet you!

      Love the way you shared that Hemingway's rules were kind of scattershot. Perfect way to phrase that.

      I agree. His rule/tip about starting your story with one true sentence is pure brilliance.

      I'm impressed with two other rules/tips from Hemingway.

      1. Don't describe an emotion, make it.

      2. Always stop for the day while you still know what will happen next,

      Both rules are sooo smart!

      Thanks so much for sharing!

  7. Wow! I love lists! These are keepers. Dumbo and smash-and-grab especially spoke to me.

  8. Hello Everyone!

    Want to share a writing rule that speaks to you?

    Don't be shy. Just say Hi -- and you could win the online course I'm teaching this month: NOT YOUR MAMA'S CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS!

  9. I love this. I need to reread it about twenty times over.

    I naturally tend more toward Neil Gaiman's approach. I look for the little oddities in the world and those populating it. For me, that's where the best characters and stories take root. I also have pretty substantial compost heap (I call it my junk file). You never know when something that didn't fit in one project might be the one piece you're missing in another.

    1. Hello Eldred --

      YOU WROTE:

      I love this. I need to reread it about twenty times over.

      SEE MY FIST PUNCH THE AIR? YES! YES! YES!

      I naturally tend more toward Neil Gaiman's approach. I look for the little oddities in the world and those populating it. For me, that's where the best characters and stories take root.

      YOU'RE SMART!

      I also have pretty substantial compost heap (I call it my junk file). You never know when something that didn't fit in one project might be the one piece you're missing in another.

      SO TRUE!

      THANKS FOR POSTING!

  10. HI Margie,

    Always wonderful to read your wise words.
    I would love if #1 was my go to rule--Write every day. Or write five or six days a week. Stick to your plan. But, alas, not the case.

    For me, the two following rules ultimately lead to success and the upcoming release of MG free verse novel, Hertz Gets Fused.

    *Find your voice. It may take writing half of a book or more, but it will surface.
    *Don’t write for the market. Write the story that speaks to you.

    And, of course, all your great classes, webinars and immersion helped immensely.
    Big hugs,
    Suzanne

    1. Hello Suzanne --

      Super smart rules! So glad you shared them!

      I can't wait to read your soon-to-be-released free verse Middle Grade novel: Hertz Gets Fused.

      You know I'm a huge Hertz fan, and I'm a huge Suzanne Purvis fan too!

      You deserve big-time success!

      SUZANNE WROTE:

      For me, the two following rules ultimately lead to success and the upcoming release of MG free verse novel, Hertz Gets Fused.

      *Find your voice. It may take writing half of a book or more, but it will surface.
      *Don’t write for the market. Write the story that speaks to you.

      And, of course, all your great classes, webinars and immersion helped immensely.
      Big hugs,
      Suzanne

  11. This is a great complication of advice!!!! With a couple of newbies I’ve added to my rotation. But I gotta admit, “Don’t try to write something that will please your grandmother.” had me laughing! When I first started writing over 20 years ago, I considered a pen name because I was afraid of what my grandma would think of the spicy scenes. I just knew she’s put me on the prayer list. 😂😂

    1. Hello La-Tessa --

      It was so fabulous to see you in my Ramping Up Your Writing to NYT Stellar webinar last week!

      Love your comment here about one of the popular rules -- Don't write to please your grandmother.

      You're so fun!

      Thanks for being here and thanks for posting!

    1. Hello Marilyn --

      I'm so glad you referenced this writing rule: Reveal a little too much about yourself.

      Another makes-you-think rule from Neil Gaiman!

      Thanks for posting!

  12. Hello Everyone!

    I loved everyone's comments! I appreciate you all for taking the time to post.

    Since we didn't have a massive number of people commenting, I did the slips-of-folded-paper-in-a-vase type of drawing. And the winner is........................Barb DeLong!

    Barb wins the online course I'm teaching this month:

    NOT YOUR MAMA'S CHARACTER DESCRIPTIONS!

    This class is about writing fresh, wow-the-reader character descriptions -- AND -- by taking this class, you'll strengthen your deep editing skills too!

    I'll contact Barb and enroll her in the class!

    I wanted to invite anyone who's reading this to drop by my GET HAPPY
    Virtual Open House! My next one is Tuesday, March 7th.

    Pop over to my website -- http://www.margielawson.com -- on March 7th anytime between 5:00 and 7:00 p.m. Mountain Time and click on the GET HAPPY meme. You'll be zapped to my Zoom room.

    It's my way of connecting with writers, just for fun! We chat and laugh. And if anyone has writing world types of questions, we talk about them too.

    PLUS -- If you're new to me and what I teach, please drop by my website and click around. You'll find lots of online classes and lecture packets and webinars that will help you make your writing powerful!

    Thanks again for being here. Hope to see you here on April 3rd too, when I'm guest blogging for WITS again!

  13. It's that history that gets me. I want to share everything I've come across, name ALL the historic characters, find and use as much authentic details as possible...and end up with a travelogue peopled by hundreds of personas, and hundreds of darlings to kill, wondering where the story went awry. Sigh....

    1. Marilyn --

      I understand. Figuring out which historical goodies you need to keep and which ones need to go can be excruciating.

      It may help to think about your spotlight. What do you want to spotlight in a sentence or paragraph? Too many details dim your spotlight and you lose power.

      One of my Dig Deep Webinars covers that topic: Where's Your Spotlight?

      Easy to remember that title!

      Thanks for posting!

      It's that history that gets me. I want to share everything I've come across, name ALL the historic characters, find and use as much authentic details as possible...and end up with a travelogue peopled by hundreds of personas, and hundreds of darlings to kill, wondering where the story went awry. Sigh....

  14. Writers need writers. My favorite rule of them all. I value my writer friends so much. They empower me, encourage me (even when it's not what I want to hear) and help me out of sticky spots. Great post, Margie!

    1. If you cannot bother to do research for historical fiction, then there is a simple solution. DO NOT WRITE HISTORICAL FICTION. It is not a 'smash and grab'. That was about the most disrespectful comment I have ever seen about a genre as bad as 'romance is just for girls.'

  15. Hey Margie, the not writing to market in the first set of rules is an interesting one because all the famous authors you mention here write to market. When you pick up a Stephen King book or a Jodi Picoult novel you know what kind of story you are going to get. They know what their market wants and they give them that each time they write a book. Every author who is successful in the long term writes to market. It doesn’t matter if it’s a literary market, a sci-fi, fantasy or horror market or women’s fiction market. These authors know their readers and give them the kinds of stories they like to read.
    Stephen King’s idea of writing for yourself first is a much better way of looking at things. He’s still writing for his market but all these authors are successful because they have found the sweet spot between what they like to write and what readers like to read. That’s still writing to market. King’s advice is also good because it means you write the story that speaks to you first. I think it’s fair to say that if market constraints are taking away your voice, you’re writing for the wrong market. However it’s also possible to write the book of your heart that fits the market, with just a bit of tweaking. That’s what King is talking about here, I think.
    I think people mix up writing to market with writing to trend, which is hopping on the latest bandwagon, whether or not it’s the kind of book you want to write. There are lots of people who make a lot of money writing to trend, but IMHO it’s rare that such books are memorable.

    1. Hello Susan --

      I agree. Writing to market is different than hopping on the writing-to-trend wagon. Trends shift, trends change, sometimes trends practically reverse.

      Thanks so much for taking the time to share your ideas!

    1. Hello Ani --

      I love that Jack London quote about going after inspiration with a club too!

      Kudos to you for writing every day for writing five days in a row. Impressive!

      Thanks so much for chiming in!

Subscribe to WITS

Recent Posts

Search

WITS Team

Categories

Archives

Copyright © 2024 Writers In The Storm - All Rights Reserved