STOP WITH THE RULES!
by zentao

Most beginning and intermediate fiction writers don't realize something. The "novel" and "short story" are some of the most versatile, liberal and forgiving mediums of expression a creative writer can work in. Unlike the screenplay and stage play, one is not limited by the constraints of money, time, and physical possibility. In fact, one can make it as broad and as imaginative as one can conceive. Now I will admit that with technology, even screenplays and stage plays are now much more accomodating. But budgets still rule them. No budgetary restraints are imposed upon text presentations. A book is a book, and a short story, likewise, is a short story. Publication of them now, with online venues joining print publication, allows for more and more exposure. ...So why do you throw out your vision along with your wildest imaginings, striving to be like everyone else?

Play with it. Enjoy it. Experiment. Let go; be wild and free. There is always a way of bringing it altogether with the right techniques, the right transitional elements, the right formatting.

"But everyone else...," you say.

Yes. Everyone else is doing exactly what you're doing. In fact, everyone else is doing what everyone else already has. So do something different.

Good grammar, excellent spelling and punctuation, and knowledge of story construct and formatting all, of course, still apply.

© Copyright 2006 zentao

Lesson TOC (Table of Contents)...4

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