Discovering your personal Writing 'Rules'

I've been having an interesting conversation in a writing community about writing rules and quotes from famous writers that could be taken as rules. 

You know the kind of thing I mean... 'You will only be able to write well if you write in exactly the same way that I (insert name of author) do.' 

I'm being somewhat facetious here, because of course no one would ever be that blatant. But authors sometimes fall into the trap of believing that because they have achieved good writing in one particular way, then of course if someone else wrote in the same way, they're bound to produce good writing too.

In fact, I did a quick search under 'writing rules' and you'd be AMAZED at how many rules there apparently are... Take a look for yourself if you have half a mo.

Whenever I see these kind of quotes or rules, and I have an opportunity to comment on them, I often do! Mainly because, in my experience of working with fledgeling authors of all ages, there is a tendency for new writers to take all these 'rules' to heart. And quite quickly, they come to believe that if they aren't doing what they're being told to do, well, they'll never be a writer, will they? This can drastically affect a fragile confidence, and put undue pressure on someone when they are still very much learning about writing and themselves as writers. 

I'm not saying that there isn't value in some - if not all - of these 'rules'. You are bound to improve if you write regularly, for example. Using adjectives and adverbs sparingly is sometimes a good thing. Taking the time to edit a story after it's 'finished' is good practice. 

I could go on... 

What's important is that you look at the rules and pick the ones that work for you. Take writing regularly; I have writer friends who write every day, without fail. I don't - I'm a fits and starts writer, who tries to keep the non-writing time to a minimum. I have writer friends who write in silence to avoid distraction, whereas I like to write with songs I can sing along to. (Current music of choice - eighties electronic anthems). Some writer friends use a three act structure to plan their plot before writing anything - I think planning is a great idea, I'm just not very good at sticking to a formal planning method. 

Authors are many and varied in their processes, and their individual 'rules' are as many and varied as the stories they write. 

If you ask me for help with your writing, I'll try hard not to give you 'rules'. I'll give you advice, sure. And I'll always be honest in sharing what works for me, and what doesn't - because even though it doesn't work for me, it might for you. It's up to you to find what works for you. What is an essential self-imposed 'rule' that will help you to write productively, as opposed to working to a 'rule' imposed by someone else that ends up getting you tied up in knots? 

Pick and choose. Try things out. Don't be afraid to ditch any 'rules' that don't work for you, bearing in mind that any set of 'rules' applied to writing projects may change, depending on the type of project and your circumstances at the time of trying to write.

And I'll continue to respond to these quotes-that-could-be-taken-as-rules, to demonstrate that none of them need to be written in stone.