Laws of Writing

[§Tsunami§]

(These are basic laws every writer should follow. I'll start with a trangression /andor observation of the law, and then state what the law is about. At the end, if there is a reversal (where the exact opposite of the law is effective, it will be stated.) Note that if you disagree with anything I say, or the entire law, state it, and I will probably get rid of the law or flawed statement, as for I want the laws to be correct and effective. This is a democracy, after all.)

Law 1: Style your sentences.

Transgression of the law: Once upon a time there was a young boy named Link. Link was always picked on. Link wanted to be something more. Link trained to be a great warrior. Link then started saving princessess and killing villains. Link is very famous.

Explanation: The sentences are rather plain. For one, they are all the same in style. Link becomes a dead word (Very lazy fan-fic writers actually write like this, fortunately they don't last long.) Finally, they could be a lot smoother. So many sentences could be put together, which would help embellish them.

Observation of the law: Power, Manipulation, Deciet--without these, we would be nothing. Greatness. What else is there to live for? Love? Alas, but it is nothing. Nothing but a pain, a burden, an unending responsibility that cannot be fulfilled. The Meterax knew the best way of power, the way of dictator, of tyrant, of absolute command over others, would bring them more life than any other simple endeavor they could ever live to dream of.

Explanation: Variation is key for an author. Fragments, listing, conjunctions, smoothness and interest in just your sentences can greatly enhance your stories. In fact, it keeps your readers reading. Often, stories with just dialogue can offer the same thing: variation is almost unavoidable in dialogues. Yet if you can do it without dialogue, all the more power with the pen to you.

Key to the Law:

Styling sentences is more than just long sentences, or short sentences, or about compound, simple, or complex sentences. It is about variation, about smoothness and readability. Your sentences must be "artistic" as well as enticing. You can only become a master of the story when you've first mastered much simpler parts. Thus, the sentence is where to start, where one employs and mixes words like chemicals in a lab.

Fragments are one such powerful weapon. Greatness. Alone the word has so much power, a completely different meaning than What is else there to live for but for greatness?

X, Y, and B. The simplest technique. All compound sentences are a style of sentence, as well as lists. A, B, C, without a conjuction. A, B, conjunction C. Such plurals are often employed, but few realize just how powerful they can be. Try decorating your compound sentences with adjectives and adverbs. It really makes them stronger.

X,Y, Z--. A rarer, but powerful technique. Do not employ too often, or it will lose its power. When you do use it, use it in an emotional context, somewhere where it will truly have a solid finality, or at the beginning, unexpected, to reach the reader's ears and hook them strong.

Adverb. Powerful, yet suttle when placed first. Quietly, the rain drops poured over our heads. Or try an adjective: Cold, the child covered himself with his blanket.

There are yet many more: parallels, appositives, colons in compounds rather than commas, the elliptical. Truly, you have seen them all before, in elementary school, and in books you've read. Now wield them all, in different patterns, in variations. Throw in a rhetorical question, a parralel sentence, a fragment. Decorating and embellishing your sentences becomes easier, and your stories magically become better. But it is not magic at all, but pure style. Your style.

Reverse of the Law:

There is no real reversal. Unless you plan to write simple, simple childrens books, then this law always should be followed in writing fiction (Such stories are typically more for teaching than entertainment anyway). Your sentences will please your audience, as well as yourself.

[Twilitbeing]

Well said, and I agree completely. Nothing (well... very little) is more boring to read than paragraph after paragraph of sentences, all constructed the same way. Given my attention disorder, I literally stop processing the words after a few rounds. (I'm not kidding, the second half of the Link example dropped off the page.) Unfortunately, he's wrong about one detail: drab fan-writers actually outnumber vibrant ones by a wide margin. This makes starting off on the right foot all the more important; fanfiction's reputation is like a nuclear fallout, and aptitude is your Hazmat suit.

A non-literary example that comes to mind. Have you ever noticed that most modern songs, after establishing a pattern with the first two verses, follow the second chorus with a break in said pattern? They do so because it keeps the listener's interest, which often has already started to drift by that point. Tsunami could probably explain it better; music is more his area of expertise.

If you don't mind, I'd like to write or suggest another law. It concerns character perspective; if you've got a sequence in mind, I can wait until it's more relevant, or just explain my points for you to post on my behalf.

[§Tsunami§]

You can write any law you'd like. Although let us make sure that everyone knows what style we're following in the post of these laws:

1: Just follow the format, and number it sequentially.

2: Remember, they're not tips but laws. Laws here are implied with a universal meaning, although they may have loopholes or exceptions (reversals.)

3: You're welcome to use a real example for an Observation/Transgression. But if you use one as a Transgression, be certain they won't come here and kill you.

[§Tsunami§]

Law #2: Mood

Perhaps you’re a poet, ready to take his/her hand on the path of a writer, or an aspiring novelist. Then you are familiar with the Law of Mood, created with precise (or perhaps ambigious) tone, which sets feeling and emotion. Stories without mood can hardly be even called a story. Mastery however, can take ages.

Observance of the Law:

The sun was higher up in the sky now. They began to drive to the forest that Antony always went to as a child. It was only a five minute drive, but already Antony was filling his family with details of its beauty. It was less for their benefit but for his own, as for he dearly hoped the forest had not changed, his head constantly turning to the side to glance at the foliage as he drove with an anxious heart.

When they arrived he gasped: The trees were splendid, tall, and untouched by man. He heard the birds whistle sonorously, the buzzing calls of insects. He saw the swooping of hawks and the stealthy red foxes hidden in the bushes. The berries on the plants tasted as sweet as before, with their slightly tangy taste. The air smelled as delicious as a home-cooked meal. Antony had returned to heaven.

His daughters began to run around happily, playing tag and showing off to their grandmother. Antony’s wife held his hand, smiling at the scenery, gazing at her husband, laughing as his awestruck eyes gazed at the forest tops, as if a dream had suddenly encompassed his reality. Antony’s father found a beautiful, yellow rose and gave it to Antony’s mother. As she received the delicate flower, Antony’s mother smiled and blushed, as if she wasn’t old at all, but a young girl receiving chocolates from her admirer.

When they all sat down it was all smiles. The forest was a Garden of Eden, and he wanted to live in it forever. Already he was thinking of how he could write a piece of music that could describe the beautiful, quiet, serene forest. The entire day they talked about Vermont, without a single mention of New York City. Antony’s wife didn’t even bring up Korea. It was just about the old days about Antony’s childhood, about Vermont. “There’s still so much to do!” Antony informed his father. “Tomorrow we should go fishing, and then the next day bring the kids to a play. Then we should bring our wives to look out at the harbor. Gosh, there’s so much we should do again!”

Antony’s father grinned. “Vermont.” He didn’t need to say anything more

Explanation: Most, if not all authors, know and realize the lesson of mood, and even act on it. But to master it requires a powerful grasp and usage of metaphors, of imagery. Before this passage, the character Antony was filled with a stirring anticipation to see his past home. But what creates mood more, is construction. Punctuation and placement help as well. If “Nothing had changed” had been added before “The trees were splendid”, it would not have the magic it would at the end. Showing, and then confirming works far better than telling, then showing. Finally, listen to the tone, how narrative and dolce (sweet) it is. This tone installs dreaminess, a temporary utopia of family, that ideal family time every family yearns to have once in a while.

Key to the law: In the example, death occurs in just a couple of paragraphs later. At that point, there is a drastic change in mood. It is not depression, nor grief, but nostalgia. Mood, we must realize, lingers, just like real emotions. The reader wants to go back, and so does Antony. The two are in the same tale.

But how does one pick the correct mood? When should the tone create a happy mood? Maybe it should be a content mood? Such mood depends partly on P.O.V. If the story is in first person, the mood should be consistent with who is telling the story. The author’s feelings should be left out, unless of course, he is that character, or the character is his medium. You must be careful, however. Since the character you will deal with is not you, you have to separate yourself, and think on he’ll deal with certain situations. Heck, you might feel bad, but maybe you’re playing with a unique, somewhat annoying character. Well then, make them a jerk, create an apathetic mood. In third person, it can be more narrative and colorful, distinct upon the collection of individuals, the environment, or the main character of that scene.

Mood changes as well. But mood, like real emotions, is typically long lasting. However, if you were portraying a hot-head, or a mood-swinger, perhaps your mood would shift unexpectedly. Therefore, you will realize just as character helps to select mood, mood serves to enhance and embellish character.

Mood helps create a medium for your selective actions. If it was rainy, if Antony was disappointed with what he saw, the mood would have been murkier. Perhaps his children would have glanced at his solemn, nostalgic face. You will find, after you’ve written the outline and started the draft that you may deter from the outline once you’ve gotten your mood in. That action you were looking forward to wouldn’t fit in.

Metaphors, Similes all serve to help mood. The environment is the best basic place to start. There are two sides to everything. The moon can be dark, and perhaps frightening, but it can be romantic, or a longing for daylight. The sun can be hot, deadly, and destructive, or soothing, calm, and reassuring. Choose your actors, and pick them well.

Finally, Mood is your enticer. Often, it is this quality that lures readers in. Sci-Fi writers, Dramatics, Mystery Novelists greatly rely on the mood. Enticement is an important quality, begun by the cover, and continued by the first sentences in your novel, as well as your plot description. Moodless books don’t get finished.

Reversal: There is no reversal in the realm of fiction. To not have a mood is to not have character, setting. Not even non-fiction dares to ignore mood, it is the hooker, the lure, the navigator to your world, real or imaginary. Keep her, and take care of her, and she will take care of you.

[§Tsunami§]

Law #3: Description: Showing but not telling

Transgression of the law: There he was: Shadow the hedgehog, glaring at me. He ran up to me, so fast, like the speed of light, and hit me in the face hard... I got up quickly, only to see him run to hit me again...

Explanation: In this poor example, it is not that there isn't description, but basically he is saying: Shadow glared at me, ran to me, and hit me. The only modifier: a simile, the speed of light, is so cliché it shouldn't be used. Quickly and hard are the only modifiers, but alone, they do not juice it up.

Observation: Fireworks shot through the air, furiously exploding in the night sky as bright lights decorated the dark background, but Fiddler’s heart was cold and distant. Jugglers spun three, four, and then five balls in the air, soaring in an arc motion seemingly effortlessly, with audiences clapping happily and children giggling, but he could not clap with them. People were clinging glasses together and saying their cheers, but he had nothing to cheer for.

Explanation: This impossible thing about Showing and Telling is that no matter what, there will almost be an instance of telling. Professionals avoid this well, but that is because they take paragraphs to explain simple actions. They shorten them to heighten, but description is still not telling. This amazing art is best learned through mimicry first. In this paragraph, There is a contrast between very celebratory image and an inner-character one that is dark and depressing. Why is unknown, and why is never told, not even in the following paragraphs. It is rather shown:

... Fiddler sat quietly gazing at them, but lost, he was lying next to the tree, yet he felt he was nowhere at all. His violin stood in his lap, the bow in his hand, but he didn’t play anything. His heart could stand the place no longer. He gently placed the violin and the bow in his case, and let out a sigh before closing it. He then walked away from the path, towards home.
His feet gently stepped onto the rough, rocky ground beneath him, and he had just only moved a few feet when he saw a familiar tree, marking the entrance to the trail to the lake. He remembered racing to climb that tree long ago with his friend Brandon. They had done almost everything together, they had gone to school, they played together, and they got in trouble together. They went to war together, but that was the final thing they would ever really do together.
Seeking solace and quiet he turned to walk down that dark, silent path. A bird gently began to fly to its nest to rest for the night, as an owl began to hoot. It was cool, the coolest he had felt for a long time. On the island, it was hotter, the air biting at your neck. Soaring over the ocean, it felt cooler up on the air was cooler, but nothing chilled his neck as he watched his comrade’s plane crash into the sea.
He had many good friends during the war. There was Mason, Fernandez, Smith, Johnson, Mayer, Ford, and Wilson. Only Fernandez returned home. He remembered the kamikaze pilot slamming into their aircraft carrier, the explosion sending one of Mason’s arms flying into the sea, red decorating the deck and mixing into the Japanese’s pilot’s blood. They held a ceremony for both of them, both victims of duty, of war, of fate.
A leaf rustled into the sea, and Fiddler was startled, turning around, fists up. For a moment, he was in battle. It had sounded so much like an enemy ready to ambush him...

Never once is the mention: Fiddler was depressed because of war. It may not even be inferred. In fact, nowhere in the entire story is the word depressed or even sad mentioned. The sentnece Only Fernandez returned home, you say is telling, but the impossible thing about Show and Tell is that its not important that Fernandez returned home: It is important that none of the other six did. What is not told is that they all died there, and did not stay. What is not said is that Mason died, what is shown is Mason'd death.

Even this paragraph is not perfect. Showing and telling is the MOST DIFFICULT ART OF WRITING, and most constantly be practiced.

Key to Learn:

Showing, rather than telling comes with some simple rules: First examine this sentence.

The girl jogged to school. Completely telling.

The girl slowly jogged to school. A proffesional author might write this sentence.

The girl slowly jogged back to school. Slowly conveys speed, back conveys that she is returning. Watch as we still modify this setnence

The girl wearing a blue hawiian shirt jobbed back to school slowly.

Notice we put slowly at the end. Showing and telling has its options. We also described the girl. Note we could have said blond-girl, but there are a lot of blond girls. Here's a final example.

The blond-haired girl jogged back to school slowly, the rain dripping down on her blue hawiian shirt and torn blue jeans.

This is all describing images seen with the eye, although dripping is a sound. Let's try an example that used all five senses. Heres a telling.

The cook cooked, and then served.

Boring, right? But seriously, people right that simply. Here's a btter idea.

The fat cook giggled as he tasted the garlic soup, rubbing his stomach as he rcognized a combination of spice, pepper, and thyme flavor in the meal. Reaching to grab the rusty silver spoon, he scooped some soup in and slowly poured it into the bowl, until he heard a fire blazing behind him, and he turned his attention to the flame gently tickling the side of a pork roast.

The more senses you appeal to, the longer the paragraph, and the more detailed it is. Know when it is appropiate.

Finally, when presenting a character, appeal to their most memorable physical characteristcs only. Blue-eyed hedeghog is a really stupid description, even emerlard eye doesn't work. Skin color isn't always best either, unless its unique. And if its nothing is unique, appeal to several at once, and then rarely bring it up again, instead focusing on scenery description.

Reversal to the Law:

It is never better to tell rather than show. But in the case of character dialogue, it would be stupid to speak this way. In fact, in character dialogue, often poorly done as well, keep the character in character and cheesy stuff out. But ignoring dialogue, there is no true reversal to this vital law.