Remember how outraged Hermione was when Professor Umbridge revealed that she would only allow her Defense Against the Dark Arts students to read defensive magic theory rather than actually practice it? That’s the same way you should feel about creative writing theory – if you aren’t putting it into practice!
You can read the sage advice “make your characters vivid” over and over again until you are repeating it in your sleep, but unless you study concrete methods to make characters vivid and practice these methods, both in isolated exercises and in your actual writing, your characters will never, ever be vivid, except perhaps by pure chance. That’s because we don’t learn by having information flashed in front of our eyes for a few seconds. We learn by practice.
You also need to study an instructional book that adopts an actual philosophy of writing and craft. I highly recommend any book by Jack Bickham if you are looking to write fiction. Books such as Zen in the Art of Writing by Ray Bradbury are invaluable, but they do not teach the strict matter of craft.
And, no, sticking to writing principles doesn’t imprison you. On the contrary, it frees you to unleash the magic of Story. Just like there are principles to building a car, so there are principles to constructing a good tale.
My favorite book by Jack Bickham is Writing Novels That Sell. This specific line from the book’s introduction kicked my butt into high-gear: “Here and there you’ll find suggested assignments and exercises. You can, of course, speed-read past these. You’re free to waste your money any way you wish.”
Jack Bickham taught my own writing teacher, and his book is revolutionary in its brilliance. I also recommend Deborah Chester’s The Fantasy Fiction Formula (Great quote: “I firmly believe that there should not be a veil of mystery draped over the creation of viable stories”). Even if you write fiction outside of the fantasy genre, this book will be immensely helpful. Deborah Chester was my writing teacher. She taught Jim Butcher, also. Anything by Dwight V. Swain is also excellent (he was Jack Bickham’s writing teacher).
One reason I found Professor Chester to be so helpful and engaging in college (and the same reason you will find her writing instructions, and those of her teacher and his teacher, to be useful) was that she based her feedback on the writing craft she had already taught me. I can rattle off much of that here: scene structure, characterization, stimulus and response, climax, and motivation (there is much more).
Never let someone who is not proficient in the skill of writing craft and story principle tell you that you are being rigid or uncreative by sticking to effective principles of writing that have been used since the days of Homer.
I haven’t tried to write fiction since I was a kid, but am realizing that even trying to write good non-fiction takes learning rules, and a lot of practice. I have just joined a writer’s guild and am learning all sorts of rules! You are also correct that the rules actually free you to write, because they give you select boundaries in order for creative energy to be used to write well, rather than using it to try and figure out what works on your own. Amazing! Healthy boundaries in life do the same thing. I’m loving your work!
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A writer’s guild? That sounds awesome! I’m glad this post resonated with you. It’s something very important to me!
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Thanks for the recommendations! I’m working my way through “Becoming a Writer” by Dorothea Brande – an oldie but a goodie!
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My pleasure! And I will absolutely check that out.
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Thanks, Tom. I’m a pretty good writer, though I never studied it formally at school. So far I’m just winging it. Interesting references and perspective. Blessings to you and lots of Light to your writing 🙂
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That’s great – formal education is definitely not a requirement. I really cannot stress enough how useful books on craft are, though! Then you can teach yourself 🙂 Blessing to you as well.
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Thank you for reminding that we need to sick to basics to craft a good story. sd
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🙂
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Sage advice! Very helpful! Glad to be following your blog! 🙂
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Thanks Maureen! 🙂
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Sure thing! 🙂
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I use the three-act structure as a framework for my stories–and I didn’t come up with it. It makes all the sense in the world to get writing advice from those whose advice you respect. 🙂
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Yeah! It’s fun to learn the tools of the trade.
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Thank you for the ideas. I write fiction, and I know what you mean that you need to stick to certain writing principles. Consistency is the name of the game, both in writing fiction and non-fiction.
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My pleasure, Claudia. I agree – consistency is key!
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