Rules for Writing

Write every day. Outline the entire book before you start writing it. Stick to a writing routine. Never revise until you've finished the first draft.

Okay, so I am going to assume not everyone spends as much time thinking/reading about writing but those are a few of the writing rules that seem to crop up a lot. I've seen them a lot on Pinterest which makes them seem less than credible but I've also heard some of them from published, very successful authors. So clearly they know what they're talking about.

But I disagree with all the rules I just listed.

Why? Well, I have specific issues with every one. First, most people have jobs and lives outside of writing so writing every day is a rule that is just waiting to get broken. Sooner or later, you won't get to write because you have to work late or finish homework or take care of the screaming kids. But beyond that, it's been my experience that there are some days when the words won't come. So I don't write that day. I go on Netflix, I read, I clean my apartment. Then I try again the next day. Honestly, maybe some people need to write every day and that's what some people like. That is totally fine. But don't assume that because it works for you it makes it a 'rule' for how to write. It's not.

Outlining is a little different because I've written books that I outlined in meticulous detail. For Crown & Claw, I wrote an outline. But for Black & Gold, I didn't. The latter didn't need the outline-the former did. So I decide whether to follow this based on the story in front of me.

Writing routines are another iffy matter. Most of the time I see this advocated in the context of writing at the same time every day for the same amount of time. Which frankly makes writing seem like a job (I know it's technically a job but be quiet, what other job can you do without pants on?) and that does not work for me. Sometimes I write for an hour in the morning, sometimes at night. Sometimes I write in little 15 minute bursts throughout the day. Yeah, routines are great if they work for you but, like writing every day, that does not make a it a rule.

The last one is about revising before you've finished the first draft. Honestly, this could have a whole post all to itself and maybe it will. For now I will say that the finishing the first draft is in many ways the greatest obstacle to writers simply because it requires so much time and commitment to one idea, to one set of characters. I've been writing and then I've realized something about a character that drastically changes their story line and I have to go back and fix it before I can go on. This is fine. Stories unfold in unexpected ways and making it fit together is just as important as finishing it. When you revise to make this happen is entirely up to you.

Here are my personal rules for writing.
1. The only thing you have to do to be a writer is write.
2. If you had to do two things, the second one would be read.
3. Give yourself a break when you need. Better to write a slightly better first draft than have to write three extra drafts.
4. Don't write when you're hot and miserable.
5. Don't write when you're too tired and start telling instead of showing.
6. Write down ideas you get when you're trying to fall asleep. No, you won't remember them in the morning.
7. There are some scenes you have to write at night. There just are.
8. Don't waste rainy days by not writing.
9. Save the document frequently.

But really, they're more like guidelines. Except for number 9.

Real Female Characters

I am sure you are familiar with the 'strong female character'. I know I wrote a post about this a while ago but I'm returning to the topic because, frankly, I think it needs to be revisited. 

In my mind, the strong female character stereotype (at least in YA) is a girl who is not the most beautiful in the room. She might be more attractive than she thinks she is but she will remain ignorant of this fact until the main love interest tells her otherwise. She might gain her 'strength' from being smarter than all the boys or simply by being surrounded by male characters who are physically weak. She almost always is the one who challenges the main male character if she herself is not the main character. She does not need to be saved.

On the surface, a strong female character is something fantastic, especially given the dominance of the damsel in distress archetype in literature and pop culture. I am not arguing against that, at all. I am saying that the goal of a writer should not be to write a strong female character- it should be to write a real female character.

I am going to begin with physical appearance because I think it is the least important trait about a character most of the time. A writer who sets out to write a female character should be aware of how her physical appearance affects how she thinks/interacts with other people. Anyone who claims that this is unrealistic is full of shit. Teenagers especially are very aware of their appearance and a real character would be affected by their appearance to some degree. Even if the female character is not particularly ugly, she would know that she was not entirely bad looking and there would probably be a few things about herself that she really liked. Regardless-and this is the important part- try not to link the female character's self-image to what a male character thinks. Male characters can comment on it but their opinion of the female character's beauty should not be the main place she gets her ideas about her appearance. I am basing this on my experience as a teenage girl and being friends with teenage girls.

Now let's talk about the 'strength' part of female characters. Women/girls can be considered strong because they are smart and they can be considered strong because they are physically strong. But giving a female character one of these traits DOES NOT BY ITSELF MAKE HER REAL. 

Real characters don't always have the answer. They don't always make the right decision and they do not have it together every second of every day. Showing a female character's strength by never showing her mistakes or showing how something affects her undermines any 'strength' a writer has given her. Write about something that has nothing to do with her intelligence or her strength. Give her dimension beyond her strength.

The last thing I want to address is romantic relationships in relation to strong female characters. Some writers will go to extreme lengths to demonstrate that even if a strong female character falls in love, she does not need the male character for anything other than romantic endeavors or that he is content to let her be the strong one. There are so many variations of this I won't detail but suffice to say that any instance of a male character taking care of a strong female character is called misogynistic. 

Which, of course, is ridiculous. People (read=my mother) have told me that my two heroines are strong female characters. Yet both are in relationships with male characters who are strong- one is a knight and the other is a prince. I am aware that there are some people who would be offended that my heroines 'need' their significant others at various points throughout the book. I would disagree and I would also point out that those significant others 'need' the heroines just as often.

Real romantic relationships, the healthy kind, encourage and empower the people in them. They push each other to be better, to try harder, to keep going when the mountain seems too steep. They take care of each other, because sometimes it is very okay to let go of that strength and just curl up in bed. Characters should reflect that.

The point of this rambling post is not to advocate against writing strong female characters. God knows the world still needs them because too many people still believe female characters have no place outside the damsel in distress archetype. Strength should not be the summary of a character-it should be a note in a long list of traits and facts about them. People who are strong are also funny and shy and like salsa and hate peaches and have favorite songs and movies and books. Characters should have all of that and more.

And that goes for male and female characters.