Breaking the Rules

I was recently scrolling through the various social groups on the internet and came across a discussion about the rules of writing and grammar. Do they restrict a writer’s voice? Do they inhibit creativity? As writers should we break them? Since we no longer follow the same rules as William Shakespeare and Jane Austen, who decides which rules are changed and when?

For me rules are merely tools of the writing craft, like a chisel for a woodworker or a fan brush for an artist. Understanding the effect created by a particular rule determines how I can best use that effect to strengthen my piece.

A period is used to end a sentence. The reader naturally takes a breath and begins the next sentence. We don’t want to create run on sentences of thirty or forty words that go on forever without using commas or giving the reader a chance to breathe because if we do that the reader will throw away the book in frustration.  However, what if I have a character who talks very fast when she is upset or nervous? “My dog wouldn’t come when I called, so I had to grab my coat and gloves, and go out and look through the whole yard and under that back shed and the porch, too, but I couldn’t find him anywhere no matter how many times I yelled his name.”  Rather than tell the reader my character is upset, I can break the rule to show it through dialogue.

Ending a sentence with a prepositional phrase takes the power out of the sentence. “No one can hear you scream in space”, isn’t nearly as powerful as, “In space no one can hear you scream.” In an action scene the pacing is fast. Sentences are shorter and tighter. You want to avoid putting distance between the reader and the action. Ryder’s pulse thudded against his jaw. The tiny hairs at the back of his neck tickled. From behind him came the muted sound of Deke rising. His spurs chinked softly as the rowel brushed the short grass. Once your action has passed and you need to give the reader a break, longer sentences ending with a few prepositional phrases adds to the flow.

In dialogue, as has been pointed out, people don't use perfect grammar. I have no problem if a character who is a bit rough around the edges uses the word, ain’t, when speaking. I do have a problem if the author uses it.  Seeing the word, ‘watch’ three times in one paragraph annoys me.  Was plus an ‘ing’ verb ( was walking, was barking, was going to, etc.) tells me the author rushed to get their manuscript up on the internet.  In this case breaking the rules doesn’t enhance the author’s voice or story.

With eBooks flooding the market like sand on the beach, taking the time to craft a polished story shows respect for the reader and like cream, will eventually rise to the top.