Happy Bloomsday, or You Are Not James Joyce
Happy Bloomsday, all! For those of you who are unabashed lit nerds like myself, June 16 is the day on which the events of James Joyce’s ULYSSES take place.
I knew there was a reason I loved Ben so. He reads Joyce as well!
I’ve been kept so busy at work assisting La Redactora that I’ve scarcely had the time to blog, but as Cap’n Sweet Valley is out of the office this week, I have a bit of a breather. Last week I asked for blog topics; surprisingly, people wanted to know about the editorial process. As we only have two titles under our belt (yes, we just acquired our first nonfiction title!), I can’t say for sure, but I promise to walk you through the editorial process of SWEET VALLEY CONFIDENTIAL soon–from acquisition to publication.
Anyway, I’m not going to blog about the editorial process today. Today I’m going to talk about this strange little saying: Rules are made to be broken.
Wrong.
Rules are not made to broken; they are made to be understood. Often I see writers asking questions about the writing/querying/submitting “rules”, as though following them to a tee is the magic formula to getting published. These is no magic formula to getting published. But you all knew that.
Then what are all the rules for?
In terms of querying/submission, the rules are in place to make our lives easier. Plain and simple. I’m sorry, but unless we’ve inked our names together on a contract and monies have been exchanged, you are not a priority. Hence the rules are in place to act as a filtering system and to help preserve our sanity.
But when writers ask about the “rules of writing”, I have a different answer. I’ve often been asked whether or not having a prologue prevent me from acquiring a manuscript, or whether or not third person omniscient is kosher, and a slew of other writing-related questions. The answer they receive is always “It depends”.
Because you must understand that rules are not arbitrarily created by an editor on high; they rise organically from the collective opinions of a discerning audience. If the audience tends to skip over prologues when reading a book, then eventually a “rule” comes about saying NO PROLOGUES.
And yet. There are always exceptions. A phenomenal writer will “break” every established rule there is and still make me want to finish the book. But on the flip side, there are writers who dot every i, cross every t and I’m still falling asleep by the second page. The difference is storytelling.
What I mean by rules are meant to be understood is this: you have a story you want to tell, you tell it the best way possible and if that means breaking some rules, then you break some rules. It’s simultaneously that simple and that complicated. This is where taste and judgment come into play because if you’re breaking rules to prove something, either to yourself or to the public, then your chances of finding a sympathetic agent or publisher are pretty slim. No one likes someone with a chip on his/her shoulder. Save it for your unpublished memoir.
On the other hand, don’t slavishly devote yourself to these so-called rules. Just because you did everything you were told doesn’t mean your manuscript is going to be good; you still have to have the storytelling chops to convince me. I don’t have a mental checklist that I’m ticking off as I read so if you bend a “rule” here or there, I’m not going to notice. Or care. I’m going to care about your characters, what happens to them, and how they change over the course of your novel. Everything else is fixable.
So there you have it. If I ever had a mantra, I suppose it would be What’s the story (morning glory)? My old roommate and genius friend Wicked Cool Riley gifted me with that little gem and I’ve adopted it as my guiding editorial philosophy. Do I care about the “rules of writing?” Insofar as it helps or hinders your story.
Phew! I don’t expect to be able to blog nearly as often as I have been in the past; this summer is pretty full up for me. Nevertheless, I will try my best. I also owe y’all reviews. I’m plugging away, I’m plugging away, I promise!
“What’s the tale, nightingale?” :) Now I have it stuck in my head, thanks.
Very true. Rules are easy. Writing is not easy. So.
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Very much agree on both counts. Re: Rules of submitting process. Well, these aren’t creative rules as much as rules to make everyone’s lives go smoother and more efficiently. If you would like to make it past the gate, it helps to not, you know, try to batter down the door.
As far as the actual writing goes, I do get peeved when someone doesn’t know the rules, or as you say, doesn’t understand them, but thinks they are such hot stuff that the rules don’t apply to them.
The way I see it is: Know the rules, know why they are there, and then if you knowingly break them, sometimes it can work. I don’t think I’ve ever read a good book where the author didn’t break rules. Ending with a preposition. Funky grammar. Fooling around with punctuation. Fragmented sentences. :) I believe that, when done right, with understanding, these things can add, like, turmeric or paprika to a story.
I think the same goes with most art, actually. Visual art, music, acting, pretty much anything. I loved Nirvana, but (because?) they broke a lot of “rules” about music, even rules that music didn’t think it had.
Whew, I can get long-winded, sorry. :)
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A story works because something sparks between the writer and the reader. Sometimes the spark is a story that makes you turn the pages. Sometimes the writer is simply someone you like to hang out with; you want to go where he/she takes you.
But all this is individual.What sparks for one person will leave another cold. It must be very hard to choose what to publish.
I agree: rules are made to be understood. That’s a good distinction.
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The whole skip-the-prologue thing just drives me batty. Why would people SKIP MY WORDS? I just don’t get it. There are people who just refuse to read a prologue on principle. It’s like, I don’t know, the fact that it begins with P-R-O-L-O-G-U-E instead of C-H-A-P-T-E-R-1 just sends them over the EDGE.
Okay, I haven’t actually written a prologue, I think, but STILL. LOL! I do get the whole craft issues and reasons, but sheesh!
Since I seem to be in a ranting mood, you’re not going to believe this. When formatting a book, publishers tell the Kindle where to open the book by default. Can I tell you? I recently tried to read a novel where they set it to skip the prologue by default! So not only did the prologue-haters miss that there was a prologue, but people like me, who start at the beginning, didn’t even KNOW there was a prologue! The only reason I found out was because I’m weird and like to look at how the front matter is formatted, so I clicked “back” until I got to the cover.
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