Break the Rules . . . Or Not

On Fire

Break the rules is about the best advice any creative person can hear.  Let’s face it, rules are the enemy of the creative process.  I mean, what’s this stuff about plotting, character sketches, inciting incidents and turning points.  I just write and those things take care of themselves. I'm on fire, my fingers race so fast, those ideas just keep coming . . .
Don’t they?

Sometimes, yes. Sometimes everything just flows.  Your people come alive, your story holds together and sizzles with tension.  Never, ever, have you not needed rules more.

What happens, though, on those days when you aren’t quite in the groove?  When, instead of being on fire, you're move like smoldering and threatening to fizzle out.  If it’s just a day or two, you think it’s a touch of the flu or your preoccupation with an upset in your life, and it goes away.  But then your editor calls and offers you a novella and you’re tearing your hair out trying to find an idea. Plus, your work in progress hits a really saggy middle.  The realities of being a successful author sink in.

Barely Smoldering

When inspiration fails you, rules come in handy.  Not stuffy rules like, oh say, the heroine’s mother always has to be a paragon among women.  Or the hero always has to be the richest man in the free world.  Or there can be no romance or sex in mysteries and fantasy. At one time these were standard conventions in contemporary fiction and cross genre writing was a big no, no, and no one read erotica that didn’t come in a brown paper wrapper.

No, I’m talking about using rules to build a comfortable structure in which to write.  Rules like, say, every story needs an arc.  Characters should have flaws.  Listing twenty things that could happen in your book on a daily basis  keeps ideas flowing.  A consistent writing schedule is the surest way to productivity.  Take rejection in stride.  Pay attention to methods of promoting your career.  Be alert to a changing market.

These rules create professional writers.  Craft and business rules that provide a foundation for your daily writing routine.  That support your writing efforts when inspiration alone isn’t enough.

That said, I now circle back to the title.  Watch out for the subtler rules that inhibit creativity.  We often call them conventions.  For instance, for a long period of time contemporary romance was always written in third person — definitely an unspoken rule.  Before that, much of it was in first person, then that died one day and, lo, first person was shunned.  Mysteries remained solidly first person; you seldom saw one written in another voice.  Although taking place in invented worlds, fantasy were always Medieval-like.  Westerns could only be written by Louie L’Amour (just kidding).

If no one had ever broken through these conventions, we wouldn’t have riveting third person thrillers, chick-lit would have never been born, urban fantasy would still be a fantasy, the western romance would be even more unpopular than it is today (another joke).

Another area where rules are being challenged is the area of being published at all and the arenas in which our works will be offered.  Nobody knows right now where publishing is going and writers who cling to the rules are in danger of being left behind.

Rules are a mixed bag.  Even the foundational rules of structure — plot, character flaws, scene and sequel —  can sometimes hinder.  Which mean we have to be willing to stretch beyond “what everybody does.”  Once upon a time the way to modest success was to find someone who’s doing it well and emulate them.  No more.  Those who soar to the top always write with a distinctive flair.  They push stories to the edge, and then slightly beyond.  They take a different approach than the average meerkat.  And at the same time they scrupulously follow important rules like consistent writing schedules and meeting their deadlines and networking as needed.

Most of us know how to follow rules. It takes some tweaking of the perspective to break them.  If you’re interested in pushing your own personal edges, take a hard look at your current  writing.  Do you always write in third person?  Try a chapter in first person.  All your heroes are alphas? How about introducing yourself to a beta hero.  Is your writing style in a distant and objective point of view?  Try writing just one scene in the emotional deep pov.  If you always write romance, try you hand at a young adult, or a mystery, or a goofy comedy – not the whole book at first; my, that would be too daring — but a scene, a chapter, a short story.  Stretch the way you write, continually look for new approaches.  Just for the heck of it, despite your deadlines.  Who knows, you could enter a new period of your writing when a fresh voice just bursts out of you.
 
So how well do you get along with the rules.  Are you a plott-dd-er or a pants-by- the-seat-of-er? Is your writing time scheduled or do you fit it in when you can? Have you developed a strong, recognizable style or do you experiment with different voices or structure from time to time? Or maybe you've come up with a unique way of managing your story ideas? I'd love to hear, Drop a note in the comments section and let's discuss it. Tomorrow's election day so I'll be close to my computer and my TV all day and night and will check in often.

Connie Flynn is a bestselling, award-winning author of romantic suspense and paranormal romance. She lives in Arizona and teaches fiction writing at a local community college.

The Fire Opal

Is The Hunger Games a Masterpiece?

NOTICE: Before I begin, I want to announce the winner of a free copy of SHADOW ON THE MOON. It is Estella, but she left no way to contact her. So, Estella, please contact me at connieflynn@yahoo.com and I’ll get that free book to you ASAP.  

                                                                                                                  from Connie Flynn

    Even though I’m starting this post by telling you I finished my fantasy novel a couple weeks ago, this blog really is about The Hunger Games.  Honest.  But I wanted you to know that I had plans to announce my completed novel from the rooftops.  I figured I’d Facebook it, tweet it, blog it, post to my every Yahoo Group.  But I didn’t and I’m not sure why. Oh, told friends and family, announced it at a couple writer’s groups, but that’s pretty much it.
    I have no answer except that I still have revisions and some rewrites to do, so the book isn’t fully finished. So . . . perhaps I’m saving the celebration for the sale or pub date.  Or maybe there’s a questions I’m not brave enough to ask myself.
    Which brings me now to The Hunger Games. I wonder if Suzanne Collins knew, as she was writing, that she would produce a masterpiece?     
    I truly doubt that. 
    The book is composed with such effortless prose that I don’t think her thoughts were on anything except getting that scene just right, exposing Katniss’s true character action by action.
    In case you haven’t read the books or seen the movie, here’s a quick synopsis.  
    Katniss Aberdeen is a hunter, living in a post-war society divided into twelve districts. Most of the sectors are pockets of abject poverty and District Twelve, where Katniss lives, is one of the worst.  Katniss provides for her fatherless family by poaching in the forbidden forest and bartering her illegal kills for other commodities.
    The seat of government is called the Capitol. It is affluent and corrupt and their major concern is keeping the districts under control so they continue providing raw materials that sustain the Capitol’s lifestyle. 
    They do this through the Hunger Games, an annual challenge fueled by a lottery called the reaping. One girl and one boy between the ages of twelve and eighteen are chosen as ‘tributes’ to compete with tributes from other districts. The televised game is unsupervised and at an isolated location and these young tributes battle until all but one is dead.  The sole winner gains lifelong financial security and valuable boons for their district.
    The story opens the day of the reaping. This is Katniss’s sister’s first year and she is not expected to be drawn. Unlikely as they thought it was, she is drawn and Katniss volunteers to take her place.  Her offer is accepted.
    She puts her family in the care of the boy who was her lifelong friend and hunting partner then  leaves for the games with the baker’s son, Peeta, a gentle soul whose own mother told him she thought Katniss would win the games.
    This powerful premise leads into a story of high stakes and unlikely alliances that require strategies worthy of Lucrezia Borgia and plays out with non-stop action, high emotion and unexpected twists. The writing itself is smooth, clear and punchy.  Male readers are devouring this book and its sequels, probably due to the non-stop action.
    The movie is just as powerful. A breath-stealing ride through the world Suzanne Collins built, it stayed truer to the book itself than most adaptations. According to the buzz, Collins was an active consultant. If so, this woman really knows how to structure a story. The complex details of this story demanded careful sifting to keep the external story thread intact, yet maintain the same rich emotional moments that gave the book its impact. The movie succeeds beautifully because the book was brilliantly written.  In my only moderately humble opinion, The Hunger Games might be declared a masterpiece.
    Now I wonder, did Collins know she was writing a masterpiece while she was writing?  I still don’t think so. I think she was just doing a writer’s job, putting words on paper to build scene after scene, reveal character after character.
    And that brings me back to finishing my own book, which contains complex societies and multiple characters.  I, too, wrote it page by page, scene by scene, character by character. Yes, I now see the question I was afraid to ask:
     Have I written a masterpiece?
    It would be nice, wouldn’t it?  But the truth is that I have no idea.  Only time can tell. All I do know is to keep on writing, keep on revising, and keep on coming up with story ideas. So that’s what I’ll do.
    I’m fairly well convinced that’s what Suzanne Collins did . . . and probably still does.

    I hope some of you are as jazzed by The Hunger Games as I am, although some of you might not be and I’d be delighted to hear your opinions (no spoilers, though, please).  Leave a comment and I’ll put you in for a drawing for a free ebook version of my first mystery short story, Old Bones, published by my alter-ego, K.C. Flynn.  Please leave a way to reach you if you happen to be the winner.  In the meantime have a great April and, if you celebrate it, a lovely Easter.