Somerset Maugham famously said, “There are three rules for writing. Unfortunately, nobody knows what they are.”
But pretty much everybody you meet in the publishing business will give you a list of them. (One is “never start a sentence with ‘there are’” —so watch yourself, Mr. Maugham.)
Some of the rules show up in any standard writing book or class, but others only seem to get circulated in critique groups, conference workshops, and forums.
Thanks much for the shout-out, Chris! And thanks to all the readers who reblogged!
And I don’t know if it’s coincidence, but it’s very cool to see an ad for my new book: “The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors” at Scribd in your header.
Great post and in some cases I believe the rules are made to be broken. When editing my writing, I often make changes and afterward reread the paragraph to find it flat (e.g. boring). Like anything, you can go overboard attempting to follow the rules.
Chris The Story Reading Ape's Blog 
It’s always good to have a reminder to start the year off! Thanks, Chris.
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Welcome, Jan 😃
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Thanks much for the shout-out, Chris! And thanks to all the readers who reblogged!
And I don’t know if it’s coincidence, but it’s very cool to see an ad for my new book: “The Author Blog: Easy Blogging for Busy Authors” at Scribd in your header.
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My pleasure, Anne – The WordPress WordAds sometimes have ads that suit the theme of my blog, so it was good that your book made an appearance 😃
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Great post and in some cases I believe the rules are made to be broken. When editing my writing, I often make changes and afterward reread the paragraph to find it flat (e.g. boring). Like anything, you can go overboard attempting to follow the rules.
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Agreed, Chuck 😀
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Reblogged this on Just Can't Help Writing and commented:
Actually, some of my *favorite* rules to ignore! Especially 1, 3, 5, 6–Gee, all of them.
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Reblogged this on lorettalivingstone.
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Reblogged this on Die Erste Eslarner Zeitung – Aus und über Eslarn, sowie die bayerisch-tschechische Region!.
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A great reminder, Chris! Thanks for sharing 🙂
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Welcome, Nicholas 😀
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Interesting article, Chris.
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😀
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Reblogged this on Legends of Windemere and commented:
Just the title alone makes me want to share.
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LOL
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i agree
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😀
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