Five Reasons to Break Writing Rules

As a womb-to-tomb author, former English professor, and writing coach and communication advisor for the last 10 years, most of the people assume that I write utterly, no mistakes in descriptive linguistics, structure, punctuation... it's all good.

Nope! i do not write utterly in the slightest degree. Actually, i do not grasp that I ever write something that AN English professor would not get her red pen out for (case in point).

I get it on deliberately. I begin sentences with "And" or "But." i take advantage of ellipses as if I even have a large box of them, and that they should be used! i take advantage of slang; euphemism, i take advantage of my very own made-up words like "baddies." I finish sentences with prepositions. i take advantage of numbers rather than writing them out. generally my sentences don't seem to be complete sentences.

With my writing background, why within the world would I break writing rules? Here's the issue... i do know precisely what the principles area unit, and, additional significantly, i do know WHY i am breaking them. I even have a reason.

Those reasons sometimes make up one among 5 areas:

1. Makes the writing additional colloquial, so it sounds as if i am truly rebuke you.

Example: "Hey, i have been wherever you're." or "What the euphemism was I thinking?" These area unit sentences that i'd terribly probably use talking face-to-face to somebody.

2. Creates flow and affiliation. whether or not i am breaking writing rules or not, my goal is to form my writing as powerful as attainable, and one among my favorite techniques is to form parallel structure.

Example: "Be able to accurately shoot AN arrow at any target at nearly any distance... to show into a inexperienced muscled beast... to form superb suits which will fly, fight, dive, and take baddies up into area... World Health Organization would not need those powers?" Those are not complete sentences, however I sacrificed good sentence construction for the ability of repetition the structure of the phrases.

3. acknowledges the visual piece of reading. A reader will quite simply absorb content and ideas as she reads. Reading may be a visual activity, so the brain analyzes all forms of things because the eye scans the page or screen: quantity of white area, length of paragraphs, format like subheadings and bullets. I try and keep this in mind as I write, therefore i take advantage of some punctuation like ellipses to visually cue the reader that these components area unit connected... and to present the attention a little of a possibility.

Example: "You'll get the suspend of it... simply keep in mind to urge your sketchpad!"

4. Makes the writing accessible. If i purchase all correct and write, "This is that the material for whom it's meant," some individuals area unit aiming to assume i am being snotty. So, sometimes, i will deliberately write or say one thing incorrectly, simply because i do know however it'll land if i do not.

Example: "I do ought to puzzle out the way to provoke facilitate. First, i am undecided what to provoke."

5. Brings my authentic self into my writing. I do all forms of things like use curse words, slang words like "gotta," colloquialisms like "y'all." I decision myself AN anomaly.

Example: "Mark makes superb breakfast potatoes, and that i will place along a kick-ass sandwich."

I will say that some rules i'll not break, as a result of those rules facilitate produce clarity and build the which means terribly clear. it is a balance among many elements: powerful impact, clarity, and accessibility.