what are the rules?

everyone is always telling me about 'always break the rules of writing' and 'knowing when to break the rules' and 'don't break the rules unless you know what they are'. I have a question.....WHAT ARE THE RULES!?!?!?!?

am I the only one who wonders this?

You know, know that I think about it, I wonder about this, too.

I mean, first you think that one rule is to follow the grammar rules in writing, but then there have been great books that break that sort of thing. The Dead Fathers Club by Matt Haig has no real grammar to it at all, at least it doesn't have any quotations in it at all.

I think most of it is the norms of what people do. I mean, most people like to read things with quotation marks so it's clear what the character says. So, basically just read things and you can see what people expect and then you can apply that to your own writing--whether you break the rules or follow them.

- Tatra, who was no help at all,

Show, don't tell
A cause must come before and effect
The only way to write is without fragments

^ Those are three I break regularly.

It might mean how everyone says to show not tell, like Rosey said, but if you need to put a lot of information in a prologue or something, that's a place where you can break that rule. Things like that. I can't think of another example right now, though. Sorry.

Well... putting a lot of information in a prologue is actually a pretty bad place to break the 'show, don't tell' rule. Infodumps. They make my eyes sore. D: That said, yes, show don't tell, increasingly obsolete grammar no-nos like splitting infinitives, prepositions at the end of sentences, and starting sentences with conjunctions, those are the two biggest ones, I think.

*is also of very little assistance*

I happen to be of the opinion that "show; don't tell" is overrated. While showing is an important and effective tool for writing, telling is just as important and effective; sometimes it's more effective than showing.

For example, which would you prefer reading?

A) Cindy selecting her underwear, her socks, her pants, her shirt, her jacket, and her shoes and then the detailed description of how she put on every single article of the clothing followed by/interspersed with vivid descriptions of how each piece of clothing looks

or

B) the simple statement "Cindy got dressed."

In any case, following the rules of grammar and spelling are pretty much musts. Some spelling and grammar rules can be bent (such as starting sentences with a conjunction or ending sentences with prepositions), but for the most part, you can't break grammar or spelling rules without pissing off/completely confusing your readers.

Or, better yet, skip Cindy's morning routine entirely! =D

Or, better yet, skip Cindy's morning routine entirely! =D

Good advice. XD

But if you can't... Well, telling is the next best thing to skipping.

thanks guys! y'all are helping so much! and Kyllorac, I liked the second example much better! I hate it when writers (girls and guys) go into deep, detailed description on what they're character is wearing, as long as they're wearing clothes, I'm perfectly fine!

and more help?

Hit the Writing section of a big bookstore. You'll find a bunch of books that teach writing, and as you read them, you'll discover rules. They're a bit hard to pick out for me, since I've just used them so much I can spot when rule-breaking works and when it doesn't, but they are there.

With show, don't tell, I also think in first person or dialogue, "telling" can be a powerful way of "showing" something about the character. For example, if the first-person narrator says another character is stupid, it's technically telling (because you could have a scene where the character proves they are, in fact, stupid), but may show more about the narrator than the "stupid" character. Also, as some people have said, necessary-but-boring things might be better quickly told. For example, "we went to..." may be less obtrusive than describing the journey or inserting lots of forced dialogue showing the setting.