What's the Point of Writing Rules?
Summary
TLDRIn this unscripted video, the speaker discusses the flexibility of writing rules in both fiction and visual art. Due to power outages, they can't reference their notes and decide to explore an impromptu topic inspired by recent conversations. The speaker emphasizes that writing rules are meant to facilitate creativity, not restrict it. They highlight the importance of understanding why rules exist, suggesting that knowing when and how to break them can help achieve specific effects. The video also touches on the speaker's personal journey with their novel and growing interest in visual art.
Takeaways
- 📚 Writing rules are meant to help you, not restrict you.
- 🖼️ Rules in art (visual or written) are there to help you achieve your vision, not to limit your creativity.
- 🎨 Just like in visual art, where proportions can be altered for effect, writing rules can be bent or broken to serve the story.
- 📖 Understanding why a rule exists is crucial before deciding to break it.
- 🖋️ Filtering (e.g., 'she heard', 'he saw') creates distance between the reader and the character, but can be useful if that's the intended effect.
- 🎥 Breaking rules can lead to innovative and compelling work, as seen in some modern films and novels.
- 🧠 Developing a clear vision for your work is essential for knowing when and how to break rules.
- 👥 Wide audience appeal often aligns with well-structured fiction, but some successful works defy this norm.
- 🚀 Subverting expectations can make a story stand out, but it should be done with purpose.
- ✏️ Rules should be flexible tools that adapt to the needs of your story, not rigid constraints.
Q & A
Why was the video unscripted?
-The video was unscripted due to power interruptions and the speaker having an inspiration for a different subject.
What is the speaker's usual approach to creating videos?
-The speaker usually scripts their videos thoroughly to ensure they convey information clearly and effectively.
What is the main topic of the video?
-The main topic is the importance and flexibility of writing rules, and understanding when and why to follow or break them.
Why does the speaker emphasize learning the rules before breaking them?
-The speaker emphasizes learning the rules to understand their purpose and how they help achieve specific effects in writing.
What example does the speaker give to explain the concept of 'filtering' in writing?
-The speaker explains filtering as using words like 'he smelled' or 'she heard' to describe senses, which can create distance between the reader and the character.
Why might a writer choose to use filtering despite the general rule to avoid it?
-A writer might choose to use filtering to create a sense of distance or separation, which can be important for certain effects or character perspectives.
What is the speaker's current personal writing project?
-The speaker has been working on a novel for about six to seven years and is currently in the final stages of completing it.
What new interest has the speaker developed recently?
-The speaker has developed an increased interest in visual art, including drawing, painting, and learning to use Procreate.
How does the speaker relate the concept of rules in visual art to writing?
-The speaker compares the rules in visual art, such as proportions, to writing rules, explaining that both sets of rules are there to help creators achieve their desired effects.
What is the speaker's advice for writers regarding rules?
-The speaker advises writers to understand the purpose of the rules and to be flexible with them, using them to facilitate their creative vision rather than seeing them as strict restrictions.
Outlines
🔥 Deviation from Script and Unscripted Inspiration
The speaker introduces an unscripted video due to power outages and a sudden inspiration for a different topic. Despite usually scripting videos to ensure clarity and quality, they discuss recent events and conversations with writers about the flexibility of writing rules. The speaker also mentions their ongoing novel project and newfound interest in visual art.
🎬 Breaking Rules in Creative Works
The speaker explores the concept of breaking rules in fiction, drawing parallels with modern surrealist films like those from A24, which often deviate from traditional storytelling structures. They emphasize that rules in art are meant to help creators achieve their vision, not restrict them. Understanding why rules exist is crucial for effectively breaking them.
📚 Flexibility in Writing Rules
The discussion continues with examples of when to break writing rules, such as using filtering words like 'felt' or 'heard' to create distance. The speaker explains that while rules generally enhance storytelling, there are times when breaking them can create the desired effect. They highlight the importance of understanding the purpose behind rules to know when and how to break them effectively.
🎨 Rules as Tools in Visual and Literary Arts
The speaker draws a parallel between rules in visual art and writing, emphasizing that rules are tools to help artists and writers achieve their desired effects. For instance, rules about proportions in drawing help create realistic characters, but breaking them can produce unique and engaging results. Similarly, writing rules guide structure but can be bent to enhance creativity and impact.
📈 Navigating Commercial and Personal Goals in Writing
The speaker discusses the balance between following rules for commercial success and breaking them for personal creative goals. They acknowledge that while many writers aim for wide appeal, breaking rules can still lead to popular and impactful work. Understanding the intended effect and audience helps determine when to adhere to or deviate from conventional rules.
Mindmap
Keywords
💡Synchronicity
💡Rules
💡Filtering
💡Commercial Fiction
💡Vision
💡Hero's Journey
💡Subvert
💡Polarizing
💡Distance
💡Structure
Highlights
The video is unscripted due to unforeseen circumstances like extreme heat and power outages.
The creator usually scripts videos thoroughly to provide the best possible information.
Inspiration for the video topic came from conversations with writers and personal experiences.
The main topic of the video is about writing rules and when it's appropriate to break them.
The creator has been working on a novel for about seven years and is nearing completion.
Discussions include the purpose of writing rules and how they help bring a vision to life.
Importance of learning rules before breaking them to understand their purpose.
Example given about filtering in writing and how it can create distance between the reader and character.
Rules in writing are not rigid laws but guidelines to help achieve specific effects.
Flexibility with rules is essential to facilitate creative goals.
Comparisons made between writing and visual art rules, emphasizing the importance of context.
The creator shares their journey of developing a vision for their work over time.
Emphasizes the significance of understanding the desired effect of a scene or book.
Encourages writers to think about the reasons for breaking rules and the effects they aim to create.
Upcoming videos about editing and different story arc structures are in progress.
Transcripts
hey guys I hope you're all doing really
really well today's video is going to be
a little bit different it's different
from what I had planned as well so we
are going off script on this video so um
basically it was just a synchronicity of
events where it's extremely hot here as
well as extremely stormy and the power
keeps sort of blipping off and on and
it's impossible for me to reference my
notes to do the video that I was going
to do but also I just happen to have a
sort of inspiration for a different
subject for a video so we are going to
go completely off script today which we
may end up finding to be highly
regrettable so I apologize for that I
usually script my videos extremely
thoroughly to make sure that I'm careful
about what I say that I'm saying things
in the best possible way to bring you
guys the best possible information
because I really want you guys to
succeed and to comprehend what we're
talking about but today I don't think it
will matter too much I hope um I hope
that by not having a script this video
is so coherent and enjoyable we are in a
different location as well like I said
it's extremely extremely hot and the
power keeps going sort of just on and
off so it's just it's extremely hot so I
apologize for that I'm sure I look curly
and sweaty at the same time but anyway
so today the subject that I was really
inspired to talk about it sort of came
about through several different things
so it was partly conversations that I've
had with writers recently
about whether they can do certain things
or or why some writers can do certain
things that they've been told not to do
and what to do in situations that are
particularly tricky when it comes to
what we call rules or or requirements of
of fiction writing the other reason that
this has been on my mind specifically is
because I have been working on a novel
for a long time if you're on my Pat
especially if you're on my patreon
Discord then you probably probably
already know that I've been writing a
novel for an extremely long time about 6
years maybe that's not an extremely long
time depends on how you think about it
but it's been a while uh it's been a
percentage of my life at this point that
I've been working on this novel it's
probably actually coming up on seven
years and I'm coming down the home
stretch so I'm coming down the home
stretch with this novel uh don't get too
excited about news there probably won't
be any real news about it for for a few
months at the very least but I am coming
down the home stretch with that and I do
want to take you guys on my journey with
that towards um trying to get an agent
trying to get published all of that
whether or not it happens you know if it
may not go um according to plan or in
the most ideal way but I do want to
bring you guys Along on that Journey as
well in the future but um having
finished not finished but coming down
the home stretch starting to finish this
book um my brain just immediately wants
a new challenge and that's sort of how
um I don't know that's just sort of how
I am my brain sort of like finishes one
thing and it wants to immediately start
on a new challenge so over the last year
as I've been wrapping up working on this
book I've had an increased interest in
visual art so an interest in drawing um
uh painting learning procreate things
like that and this has nothing to do
with the channel don't worry it's not
going to become an art Channel I'm just
segueing here so because of that I've
been more um I've been consuming more
content about visual art and what really
brought these two ideas together people
asking about writing rules and people
asking about visual art is that coming
into something as a beginner so coming
into visual art as a beginner at in my
mid-30s it's it's hard you you feel like
you're constantly wondering why do I
have to do something a certain way or
why am I told constantly you know I have
to do this thing and the Shadows have to
be this way and you know people have to
be drawn in a certain way and the
proportions are a certain way and all
this all these rules all all of these
restrictions and it feels
very off at times because you feel like
you see other people creating art and
the and the art that they're creating it
it doesn't follow these rules often I
mean it often it does follow the rules
but but often it doesn't so we have a
sort of a mixed a mixed
um outcome we have art that follows most
of the rules but not some we have art
that seems to follow none of the rules
but maybe it does follow the rules and
we just aren't at a level yet where we
can see it but but regardless it brings
up all these questions about uh why do I
have to do something a certain way
what's the point what is what's the
point of of rules when we're talking
about art when we're talking about
creativity why are there these
restrictions at
all
and why I think this is a such an
important topic is because we might look
at someone's work and we might say that
they succeeded and they didn't follow
whatever Rule and and that's entirely
true fiction often breaks rules we see
many um films especially modern films we
see I I think lately we've seen a a
great increase in more surrealist films
or or just odd films that don't maybe
follow rules that we would have set up
previously and and we see that of course
in in novels as well but but with films
we're all more familiar with it but um
for example we have a24 films everybody
pretty much knows like about a24 films
and that they're very different they
feel very different the vibe is
different and and a lot of the time we
might say we don't really see the
structure in the same way or we don't
see it following rules like perhaps we
don't see it setting up rules for the
antagonist in the same way it can be
very abstract and surrealist with with
bizarre things happening seemingly out
of nowhere and they don't follow the
rules that we we've always been told
that you you know fiction needs to to to
set up a rule to or two times or three
times so that we understand how things
work and that things need to follow and
be consistent with rules but we maybe we
don't see that in in certain pieces of
fiction and the reason that these rules
are so difficult to comprehend is
because the rules are not there to
restrict you the rules are not there to
tell you what you can't do the rules are
there to help you bring your vision to
life they're they're there to help
facilitate what you are trying to
achieve and that's why in every type of
art whether we're talking about visual
art or writing or music or anything we
always we're always told to learn the
rules before you break the rules
understand the rules and then you can
subvert them later on but I think
sometimes we don't always understand
what this is even talking about what
does this even mean what do you mean we
have to learn it to break it if I can
break it why don't I just break it now
you know why why do I have to learn
something that's so hard to learn and so
frustrating to learn if I if later
you're going to turn around and say well
you don't have to always follow these
rules and the reason is that
the you have to understand not just the
rule not just not just this thing this
law chiseled into stone that you have to
have the first plot point at 20 20 to
25% that that has to happen it it's less
so to learn it as a law it's more so to
learn why it's a rule what is it
accomplishing why do we have that what
is achieved by following that most of us
have a certain thing that we want to
achieve that's maybe a little bit more
in alignment with each other so for
example maybe the vast majority of
people writing fiction hope that it will
sell pretty well they hope that they'll
have a fairly wide audience that they'll
be able to sell it you know at least to
10,000 people that average is about
10,000 we want to at least appeal to
10,000 people and most of us dream of
something a lot bigger than that so most
of us are hoping that we will appeal to
100,000 people or 500,000 people we want
to to have a bestseller we want to have
a book that's really widely injo
that's definitely not everyone's
objective I would not say personally
that that's my objective but it's an
understandable objective and a lot of
writers have that objective of appealing
to a wide
audience typically a wide audience is
going to enjoy well structured fiction
because it's similar to things that
we've experienced before it we
understand um we've all as consumers
sort of um acquired the that sort of
hero's journey as something that we we
intrinsically understand so when
something doesn't follow that we may
feel like I don't really like that or or
or it may be very polarizing like again
something surrealist something like the
a24 movies we might say it's very
polarizing some people hated one of them
and loved a different one and some
people hate all of them and some people
love all of them so it it's very
polarizing and we might not want our
work to be polarizing we might want our
work to appeal to a certain audience for
example sci-fi readers fantasy readers
but we probably don't want our work to
be polarizing as in we don't want some
people to hate it and some people to
love it we typically we looking to get
most people who like a certain thing to
like our work because of that there are
certain rules that we would follow to
make that work exciting and well-paced
and interesting and entertaining but
that's not the only
objective in one piece of work or for
everyone so for some people that's not
the goal at all like I said I wouldn't
say for me that my goal is
specifically to sell as many copies as
possible for me it's more I want to
achieve something specific that I have
in mind for this book and that's
important to me it's important to my
vision and what I want I I have a a real
clear concept of what I'm looking to
achieve when we want to appeal to a wide
audience though we need to to take that
into consideration to what that wide
audience likes and what they're looking
for but even within that work say we
have something that's pretty commercial
it may still deviate from the roles in
certain capacities at certain times
because it's trying to create a
different effect a different impact and
just because you're not following a rule
doesn't mean the the work is
automatically not commercial there's a
degree of rules we can
break where we eventually reach a point
where it's not commercial anymore we
eventually reach a point where it's
not widely or it's unlikely to be widely
enjoyed but we can break some rules and
still stay within those expectations and
still be uh entertaining in fact some
widely popular wildly popular uh fiction
of all types has broken rules and has
subverted those expectations and people
absolutely love them and they have hit
it big in the mainstream so it isn't
this black and white thing but what's
really important to understand about
rules and let's take for example a
really good example of this and this
came up recently on on patreon as well
is filtering so filtering is when you
filter through the senses of the
character so for example instead of just
stating a a a a scent or a sight or a
smell you add in the filtering word of
of he smelled she felt
Etc so the the saw felt smelled tasted
those are the filtering
words it came up on patreon where
someone was asking about that in regards
to what if something isn't on screen so
what if someone says says so what if a
situation comes up where in the
narration we want to say that uh the
character heard something that was from
another room for example and they were
asking how we can avoid filtering and we
certainly can we can make the choice to
avoid filtering in that situation and
that's completely fine and we may want
to do that for various reasons but the
point of avoiding filtering is to not
create that distance so filtering
creates distance it creates a separation
between the reader and the character we
don't want that separation which is Mo
in most cases in the majority of cases
we don't want that separation we're
trying to create a sense of almost that
the reader embodying the character in
that situation we don't want filtering
because we don't want to create that
layer of distance we just want to
describe things without filtering it
through the character's
emotions however there are situations
like for example something is happening
off screen where it makes sense to say
she heard something he heard something
because it's logical it's simple and it
makes sense we can't make that we can't
necessarily explain that the sound of
what was heard to describe what happened
so for example say in this case I
believe what happened was the character
heard someone coming home we can say
they heard the door open they heard
footsteps it's it's a little complicated
and it would be a lot simpler to just
say you know she heard her husband come
home or she heard so- and so come home
from the other room we don't have to
follow really really rigidly to the
rules so that's the segue into a bigger
reason not to follow the rules so that's
a pretty small simple explanation of why
you might not follow a
rule a more interesting scenario would
be a situation where you want to create
distance so maybe you don't want the
reader to embody this character that
closely maybe you want to create a sense
of Separation The filtering then you
might include it naturally as you write
as you work on your book because it
works with what you're trying to do it
makes sense you're trying to create a
sense of distance you might not be
consciously thinking that that's what
you're trying to do but you may still
naturally include that filtering because
you understand that you are trying to
create a sense of distance maybe the
character feels distant from themselves
so maybe the character is perceiving
things with a degree of separation from
their own body and so you want to
include filtering to enhance that and to
to make a difference between a situation
where they're feeling distant from their
body and when they're feeling close from
their body so then you want to use
filtering in that scenario the point of
these rules is to facilitate doing what
you want to do to help you facilitate
the creation of the effect that you want
to create in your work and that's why in
many videos I've talked about the
importance of having a vision of
developing a vision and a lot of us
won't have a vision right away so me
most of us some of us are are are
extremely fortunate and we get these
immense Visions sort of automatically
where where we can kind of see how we
want the whole thing to look and feel
and the vibe and we have this really
well-developed idea most of us don't
have that most of us needed to develop
our vision over time and I've talked
about in a lot of videos developing your
vision and clarifying your vision and
the reason that that's so important is
because you can't comprehend how your
work fits into the rules unless you
understand what you're trying to achieve
it starts with understanding what you're
what you're trying to accomplish what
effect you want to have how do you want
this book to feel how do you want the
reader to feel how do you want this
scene to be perceived it's it's going to
be very difficult to
say I have to always follow this
Rule and to have to sort of write that
into a law in your mind it's going to be
very difficult to say that and then
create something that has the effect
that you want because often to create an
effect we have to subvert expectations
we have to subvert those rules we have
to go against what maybe we've been
taught and it's extremely important to
be flexible in that way with the rules
but we can really only be flexible with
the rules when we understand what
they're there for and and why we have
them and what the point of them is and
so really the only thing that I wanted
to say today the message that I wanted
to bring across today is that
writing rules are there for you they're
there for you to facilitate what you
want to do the same way that when we
talk about visual art those rules are
there to help you facilitate what you
want to accomplish so for example we
might say something like a a rule for
drawing a rough rule for drawing might
be that people are so many heads
tall we're not going to sit there and
say well that means that I can't draw a
character who has a big head we see lots
of characters that have big heads we see
bigheaded cartoon characters because
it's more aesthetically interesting we
see bigheaded characters uh to create a
comedic effect or to create a a horror
effect to make it to look scary to look
uncanny we don't have to follow the rule
100% of the time it's not about creating
a law it's about helping you to create
the effect that you want to create and
most people are trying to in terms of
visual art they're trying to draw a
character that looks like a real person
or maybe they're trying to draw a
portrait of real person they want it to
look like a real person if you want it
to look like a real person then it has
to be so many heads tall according to
their age and and male female
Etc we don't have to follow those rules
when that's not what we're trying to do
when we're not trying to make a person
that feels like a real person of course
we can make their head bigger or smaller
or we can space their eyes further apart
or or we can exaggerate or eliminate a
feature we can make a person who has no
nose or no mouth because we're trying to
make something that looks weird or scary
or creepy or maybe we make the eyes huge
because we want it to be cute and I
think in visual art we understand that
inherently we understand inherently that
we can subvert those rules because we're
trying to create a certain effect but in
fiction I think that we can get way more
hung up on following the rules in a very
literal way that we can almost encode
them as law and we can't conceptualize
not following
them but there are circumstances in
every book that will not follow the
rules every single book is going to have
elements in moments situations
characters that do not follow the rules
you may intentionally do something like
for example set up a character Arc and
then not have the character actually
have the arc you may do that to create a
specific effect that you want to create
like I mentioned you might use filtering
because you intentionally want to create
a sense of distance from the from the
character and that's fine you just have
to understand what you're trying to do
the problem with rules with giving rules
and on this channel of course I am
typically much more organized and much
more rigid with things because I'm
trying to explain what the rules are but
we have to understand that when we learn
these rules we're learning something
that's going to be as widely applicable
as possible to as many situations as
possible to what most people are trying
to achieve and most people are trying to
achieve commercial fiction that has wide
appeal with realistic seeming
characters and that might not be what
you're trying to do or it might be
mostly what you're trying to do and it
might be a little thing here and there
where you want to go against a certain
structural rule or against a certain uh
writing rule for example maybe of a very
childlike character or a child character
or or a character who just is childlike
and maybe they use a ton of adjectives
and you've read you shouldn't use you
know two three adjectives back toback or
you shouldn't use so many adjectives in
a row in general but that's in general
that's because most people are trying to
write like an adult and they're trying
to write it an adult character not I
don't mean like an adult I mean you can
write a child like character like an
adult would right but but I mean you you
want to create a character who feels
like an adult and when you want to
create a character who feels like an
adult you don't want to put something in
that's going to feel like it's written
for kids or that feels childlike because
it's not what you're going
for so I have rambled on about this long
enough I think I think you guys get the
point that I'm trying to say but I just
wanted to encourage you guys to be
flexible with the rules because the
rules are there to help facilitate what
you want to do they're not there to
restrict you and if you don't want to
follow a rule think about why you don't
want to follow it think about the effect
that you're trying to create because
there is a vast difference between not
following a rule because you don't
understand it not following a rule by
accident and not following a rule
because it doesn't work with what you're
trying to achieve so anyway that is all
I wanted to say today I hope this wasn't
too miserable of a video since it was
unscripted I am working on a video about
editing which actually turned into I
think three different videos about
editing so that will be coming soon and
I still am working on the flat Arc
structure video and eventually the
negative Arc structure video it'll be a
few weeks before any of those are
remotely close to done but I am working
on all of them I hope you guys are all
doing really really well I will see you
again soon and in the meantime happy
writing
guys for
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