Rules · 7:06am Jan 24th, 2014
Hey people! I'm back for another blog. There's gonna be a bit about Cheated Dreams in here, but it's mostly going to be about my personal rules as a writer and my own opinions about writing.
So, as stated in my previous blog, my carpal tunnel has finally gone away and I can once again return to writing. And I've been writing constantly for the past two days. I've been going slow, though, and taking a lot of breaks (I do not need carpal again) so it's not going as fast as it could be. That being said, I've made good progress on the next chapter of Cheated dreams, and am at the point where I have to choose whether to end it here and make it a short (2 thousand word) chapter, or keep going and possibly double its length before I reach another good ending point. Feel free to make a request; I'm done writing for the night. If I keep writing it likely won't be out until the end of the weekend. If I end it here, the next chapter will be out tomorrow after being edited.
Anyway, onto the title of this blog; rules. Writing again after such a long break (almost a week is a long break for me. So what?) has gotten me thinking about my writing and the rules and restrictions I place on myself when I write. So I decided that I'd go over them with my readers and give them a bit more understanding of everything I do. Now, before I start I have to say that there are exceptions to every rule and I have broken a few of these rules. However, rules are there and I do try my best to follow them, and it is very rarely that I slip up. And most of the time when I do it's out of my control.
So, my number on rule as a writer; I must be proud of it to post it. This is the main rule that keeps my stories a certain quality level. of course, the level changes as my skill increases, and that rule only applies to a fic at the time it was written. I go back and read some of the chapters of "Don't Give Up," and by my standards today it would never see the light of day without heavy rewrites. This rule is the most important one I have, and I feel that every writer should abide by it. Because if you're not proud of it, why would you make others read it? I've broken this rule before with What Makes us Special, but that was because of the time constraints and the fact that I didn't have time to go back and write it in such a way that I could be proud of it.
Rule number two; every chapter is written to the best of my ability (at the time). This means that if I release something, that is the best writing I could have possibly done at that moment in time. I don't half-ass my way through anything; everything I write I put my full effort into. My heart and sole goes into every word of every chapter and I personally think it shows. Of course, this is always limited to the time frame I'm writing in. It could be during a bad block or just a generally slow period in terms of writing, but it's always the best I can do at that time. This is one of the few rules I have never broken.
Rule three is that everything I release onto this site is something I would like to read. I spoke of this before when I was going over why I write, but every single story is something that I would want to read. And often times I do go back and read some of my older stories, for various reasons. If I want to read it, I know at least one other person out there will too, and that person will give me an audience. If I don't want to read my own stories, why would anyone else? This is another rule I think every writer should hold to, and it's one of the ones I both haven't broken and one of y most important.
Rule four is that everything I post is edited. This isn't really a personal opinion so much as it is a necessity. I type up a chapter in MS Word and practically the entire thing is underlined in read. I'm not the best typist in the world, but 72 words a minute ain't half bad. Of course, editing also includes proofreading for plot holes and any other mistakes that would lower the quality of the piece. I have broken this rule before with rushed chapters for whatever reason, but I almost always go back a day or two later and make sure they get edited eventually.
I have more smaller rules I abide by, but those are the big four. And... honestly I think those are the ones that everyone should follow.
My writing is one of the things I am truly passionate about, and I put everything I have into every chapter I write. Because if I didn't, then I'd just be wasting your time.
Anyway, thoughts comments or questions? Or if you have an idea with what I should do with the next CD chapter, put 'em in the box below.
Until next time,
Kodeake out
Rule 4 is like me i all ways need my stuff edited b4 i post it