If you take five minutes and search online, you can find...101,000,000 sites with articles, blog posts, and rules for writing fiction. I lied. That took about 20 seconds.
Here's the thing, rules are great. They tell you what to expect, and what others expect. If you're writing and are trying to get published, it's necessary to know what the agents' and publishers' rules for submissions are. And there are standards of writing mechanics one should follow. Proper comma usage is something I am always looking for, along with diction, and subject-verb agreement.
But then there are rules about story craft. And these, though they're called "rules", are a little looser.
Emma Coats is a story artist with Pixar, who recently posted 22 rules for storytelling. There are a number of great suggestions here, but I hesitate to call them rules. You don't have to follow, but read them and see if any of them strike a chord.
When it comes to learning how to write a story, the best thing a set of rules can do is help you try different things in an effort to find what works for you.
Perhaps the one "golden rule" for writing is that "There is no one right way to write." So find what works for you.
Following every set of rules will ultimately constrict you and hinder your writing--there are just too many out there (again, 101,000,000?!)--but finding a few key pieces of advice can act as lighthouses at midnight, when you've lost the story in an ocean of confusion and need to find the harbor.
From Coats' post, a few that I particularly liked and found helpful:
"#9: When you’re stuck, make a list of what WOULDN’T happen next. Lots of times the material to get you unstuck will show up."
#12: Discount the 1st thing that comes to mind. And the 2nd, 3rd, 4th, 5th – get the obvious out of the way. Surprise yourself."
"#16: What are the stakes? Give us reason to root for the character. What happens if they don’t succeed? Stack the odds against."
These are some things I've told my students often, though for essays: "#11: Putting it on paper lets you start fixing it. If it stays in your head, a perfect idea, you’ll never share it with anyone."
"#14: Why must you tell THIS story? What’s the belief burning within you that your story feeds off of? That’s the heart of it."
Whether these help you in your writing, or you connect more with some of the others, I feel most writers will take something away from this. At the very least, it gives you perspective, to see how someone else views storytelling and story-forming.
Happy writing, everyone.
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