The Insecure Writer’s Support Group
Purpose: To share and encourage. Writers can express doubts and concerns without fear of appearing foolish or weak. Those who have been through the fire can offer assistance and guidance. It’s a safe haven for insecure writers of all kinds!
January 4 Question: What writing rule do you wish you’d never heard? ~TheIWSG
There isn’t a writing rule that I wished to have never heard of: whenever someone mentions rules, I tend to fall asleep….
I have found that the more I read and delve into an idea; even those rules become more convoluted. I have a need to bricoler (tinker) inside those flow of words, meld with the colors, feel the whispers and to see how those rules were (are) played with by artists and writers, to see how they used them or didn’t.
I wonder if I missed the rules on writing this post…
Truth be told, I believe that all rules need to be broken. Every red button labeled ’don’t press’ needs to be pressed just so I can see what would happen: a rainbow car tumbles out a Clown Alley of critics with their trusty red markers, taking it out on my imagination.
I got past worrying about state of being verbs. Stumbled over commas, I add one every time I exhale; is that worse than using none. Or counting every ‘the’ … twelve, just saying.
I started wondering about the path that forks out towards a Quotidian world or Balzacian or Bourgeois, let’s not forget Jamesian and Metaleptic telling or told. I started scratching my head over Metaphysics to show existence, then wiggling over to Ontology: straining to hear Social Realism whispering in dark corners. A few shakes of empty soup cans, rattling with dried peas, a sorry imitation of bongo drums. All the while looking confused at the honing steel hanging out in Kitchen Sink scenes, pointing down the hall to the fogged up mirrors of Romanticism.
The best or maybe my grandparent’s favorite was ‘bathtub gin’ it helped them not to worry about rules.
3 replies on “The Insecure Writer’s Support Group-January Blog Post”
Cute post. You can’t let the rules get in the way of getting the story out. Look at how it flows, let your imagination guide.
Thanks for stopping by my blog yesterday and leaving a nice comment!
Hi, Geradine! I’m a fellow IWSG member who’s making the rounds a day late. It was a delight to read your post! I particularly liked this: “a rainbow car tumbles out a Clown Alley of critics with their trusty red markers, taking it out on my imagination.” That puts me in mind of many who have taken a red marker to my writing ~ but I have never described the experience in such a vibrant way! I’m perpetually scratching my head over Metaphysics and Ontology, and I’m embarrassed to say I had to google “metaleptic”, a word I really ought to have remembered, but it’s fun to hear your fresh voice and way of constructing thoughts! Happy writing in 2017!
Rules can be good, but not always. Bending them is much more fun.
Heather M. Gardner
Co-host, IWSG