The Sameness of Following the Rules

Imagine, if you will, a room full of people convening to exchange ideas. Every person man, woman, child, some old, some in the prime of their lives- each taking turns in an orderly fashion, sharing their innermost thoughts on a variety of subjects. Yet in this room, all the voices speak with the same clear and proper speech. There are no thundering oratories from the crusty old men, nor soft, sweet whimpers from the petite young girls. Even when the frail grandmothers and the powerful young athletes open their mouths, they all sound the same.

In many ways, it could be beautiful. Everyone understands everyone else. There is no misunderstanding, no misinterpretation, and nothing is left to the imagination.

For many years, I worked as a technical writer and technical trainer; my goal was to develop documents that spelled out precisely what the user needed to know and how to use the information. There was no room for interpretation or room for unique thought.

When I retired and began writing fictional stories that required a spur of imagination, I needed to relearn my writing skills. I took master classes, read how-to books, and was advised to choose from one of many style guides and stick to it. All with the intent to learn the right way to write. After a while, I subjected my work to editors, critique partners, and beta readers. Over and over, I was reminded of the rules of good writing. Don’t use adverbs! Eliminate passive voice! Never end a sentence with a preposition! Keep your paragraphs short!

I took every rule to heart and followed the latest trends because I was told that is what publishers want. Yet, over and over, my work was rejected.

I couldn’t understand it. I had read some of the greatest authors of all time: Leo Tolstoy, Agatha Christie, George Orwell, Upton Sinclair. I liked them and learned from them.

I also found that all the great writers, the ones who garner Nobel and Pulitzer Prizes, seldom follow the rules.

I read a book by Cormac McCarthy, an author who refused to use punctuation. Winston Groom used misspellings and grammatical errors to emphasize his character’s flaws. Another great writer of our time, John Steinbeck, wrote rambling paragraphs; he jumped from past to present tense and from first-person to third-person perspectives in his books.

My only guess is that these successful authors never bothered to take the same master classes that I took. They ignored the rules of writing in favor of their own voices.

Like them or not, they have one thing that made them stand out in a room full of sameness. Their voices are different than the others in the room.