5 Rules for Writing the Right Way

As my Mother said, "if you bother to do anything, do it right."  For a writer, the right way is the only way. So what's not "right"  in writing, let me count the ways:

1.        Subject-Verb agreement: From student papers to newspapers, too many subjects and verbs have never been properly introduced much less agree. This language pollution is sadly becoming accepted.

2.     Allowing spell checker to run the show: Spell check is a technician, not a writer. It does not know the difference between "there" and "their". Enough words in English present confusion for the Write Mind, so imagine how poor Spell Check is spinning when faced with "pare", "pair" or "pear". A writer is heading for a dangerous misunderstanding by hitting "ok" at any Spell Check hint without considering how that spelling might change the meaning of the sentence.

3.       OUTLINE - OUTLINE- OUTLINE. An outline is to writing what location is to real estate. Free form is fine for starving poets but won't earn a paycheck for freelance commercial writers or university instructors. Banish memories of the 6th grade English teacher who made outlining seem like a punishment. She (or he) was right to insist on mastering this craft. Start with an outline and follow it.

4.       Essential Grammar rule: when in doubt, check it out.  Whether comma-impaired or semi-colon challenged, look in a basic grammar book. The grammar check function on some word processing programs is limited at best. If all else fails, re-write the troublesome sentence (or divide it) in a way that does an end- run around your grammar pitfall.

5.      Have a point and get there promptly.  If rule # 3 is followed, this becomes easier. However, stop at the end of any writing project (or at least each section of a longer work) and attempt to give a "news headline" report of what was written. When you can't summarize your own work (and you know what you are writing), do not expect a reader   to get it either.

These  5 beginning steps can lead any writer, even a novice, in the right way to write anything, in any genre, for any purpose.

Writers are not the best sleepers

Writers are readers, but sometimes not good sleepers. Those story telling voices in my brain don't operate in my time zone. During busy times of the day such as while I am teaching or coaching, they are drowned out or ignored. Then when my head hits the pillow in a quiet room, those pesky storytellers feel like they own my attention.

Unless you are a writer, this sounds completely off the chart. Does this writer need to see a psychotherapist (never mind, she is one)? Or does she have “Overactive Characters’ Syndrome” where the characters from the last story are insisting that their next saga be transcribed?  This never happened with my non-fiction academic books. Fiction is a different animal.

What do you do when your eyes close at night but the ideas won’t turn off?

Some writers keep notepad by the bed to jot the idea. That means turning on the light and becoming even more wide awake.

Others choose to get up and write for a short period of time to avoid losing the ideas.

When the rush of thoughts seriously interrupts sleep, my approach is to go to my home office and work myself to sleep.  Not always convenient with my morning schedule but if I ignore the writing urge and manage to get to sleep; I awaken certain that I have lost the most fantastic idea known to human literature.

Writers tread along the slippery slope of compulsion in their insistence on writing at the least convenient times.  Perhaps we need to set aside some quiet time during the day to listen to the characters tell their stories and stop intruding on our sleep. Inspiration is a strange thing that is not bound by place, time or schedule.  After all, what’s losing a few hours sleep compared to working your way out of a plot confusion? 

Nostalgia for Writing

Human nature wants the unavailable; the multi-story doll house, the upgraded video console, the fully loaded convertible. For me this week, the "unavailable" object of my desire is time to write. As I teach in this Intensive (8 hours per day) graduate seminar at my university, I desperately miss my stolen moments between tasks to write. Even this blog has been neglected in order to attend to my students.

What can you do when writing time simply isn't possible? You have three valuable options: think, jot, plan.

Think: Let your mind wander around a topic or listen to the characters play out scenes that you can transcribe later. Work out challenging scenes in a "what it" manner: what if he did this or what if she made that choice.

Jot short notes, like a word association exercise. These can be character names, places to include in scenes or phrases to remember for dialogue. I confess that there are "writing jots" in the margins of the textbook from which I am teaching my class. A student comment, something from the text or my own random thought provides the ideas to develop later.

Plan: In between classes, back at the hotel relaxing or waiting in the airport, I can sketch out an action outline to be fleshed-out later. I can also take a previously developed outline and add details. Or I can use my calendar to revise the writing schedule for when I return to my home office.

No matter how much I add by the think-jot-plan method, I know that I'll be so grateful to be back to my writing schedule that my typing fingers will cramp from the speed. Ideas are piling up in my brain like rush hour traffic. If absence does make the heart grow fonder, perhaps time away from writing is a strong motivator to increase productivity and remember how beloved is the written word (particularly my own!).