Breaking the ... rules
Kate, in her reply to my Screw the rules post, makes an interesting point - may be, you have to know the rules to break them. But I would mutter/howl, depending on my mood, what are the rules? Yes, I can (and have) read many books, but there do not seem to be hard and fast rules, as far as I can see. Particularly as I am not writing crime or romance.Why can Jack Whyte break the rules - as dictated by the Winchester crit - and still get published? His first book was much the same (long rambling sentences, first person, etc.) so what was he doing right? Which is why I'm writing what I want rather than to a market, otherwise it would all do my head in as I miserably tried to conform to some sort of formula, and failed horribly. This way, at least I get to enjoy my story (more or less), and still fail anyway :-)
It's not to say I'm being a total lout. I am trying to find my way and work out how to do things - I wouldn't seek crits and take them seriously, otherwise - but it is my way, aka the long way. If I didn't spend at least a decade staggering around without knowing what I was doing, there'd be something seriously wrong with me ... The main problem is that I am running out of time.
Oh, and here's another person who likes Jack Whyte. The piece is actually about the House of Pendragon, Book 1: The Firebrand by Debra Kemp, which I've also read, and I have to agree with the reviewer.
posted by Alex Bordessa @ Sunday, July 31, 2005
2 Comments:
Looking for the rules of writing seems rather like looking for the definitive rules of Mornington Crescent :-)
Perhaps Jack Whyte can break the rules because he is in fact playing the arcane Camulod Gambit first introduced by the Marquis of British Colombia in 1711, as all truly expert players of the game will understand. Or (whisper it) perhaps there aren't any rules? Tick one :-)
Carla
And I don't really know why I cannot read Jack Whyte. I tried the first book in his series and got bored. Maybe it was the (what I call) info dumps. He seemed way too fond of his research and seemed to want to show it off. Guess it comes down to the author's and style. You either like it or not. Sorry this is late, but I just discovered this.
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