Do not be afraid to break any of the "rules" of
writing. Your words are your own, to play with as you desire. Allow yourself to
be creative in your use of language.
Be especially careful to make clear your purpose in breaking
the rules. Deliberate actions on the part of the writer might easily lead a
confused reader to attribute apparent transgressions to: a) shallowness in the
writer's personality; b) gaps in the writer's education; c) a lack of expertise
with the writing process; or d) a glaring instance of oppositional behavior,
revealing a deep-seated abhorrence of authority and a dark side on par with a
team consisting of Darth Vader and Lord Voldemort [assuming that the seats on
the right-hand sides of both Count Dracula and Satan are already taken].
A poor writer is to be pitied, much as a blind beggar who
starves to death, standing and clanging his tin cup just outside the door of a
soup kitchen he cannot sense. It is bad enough that he will die of starvation
within inches of free food—he can smell the food!—the real tragedy is that
people pass by the tragic man all the time but no one has told him he can go
inside and help himself.
If you see instances of poor writing, please do the writer a
favor and TELL HIM!
The writer will be forever grateful for the heads-up, and
won't even think of polling your high-school friends to discover what
disgusting thing about you he could use in his next novel, just to get even, if
only in his mind.
