Member-only story
Three Unofficial Writing Rules.
- “If this is true, then what else is true?”
I have found this to be an exceptionally useful generative question. Consider — as an example — a random sentence like, “Today’s the day.”
If that sentence is true, then what else is true?
Answer: it’s clearly an important day, but what kind of important day? Is it a wedding? Is it the day of a big high-fantasy-styled battle? Is it the day of a heist? Is it … all three?
If we accept all three answers as true, then what else is true?
Answer: the person has a busy day ahead of them.
And so on. We begin with a simple sentence that quickly transforms into a story-in-progress.
2. “Act as if you’re talking to a well-meaning friend who knows nothing about nothing.”
We have all told stories before. When we tell a story to a friend of ours, we do it in a certain way — and we’ll sometimes explain our stories depending on who our friend is, too, i.e., — ‘You know him, he’s the one who has the ice cream store that looks like a haunted mansion.’ (Or whatever.)
Whenever you sit down to write, one easy way to establish your authority as a writer is to act as if you’re telling this story to a well-meaning friend who knows nothing about nothing. People won’t…
