Rules get warped over time when I think it comes down to simpler elements: character motivation, pacing, and thesis reinforcement. 4, 5, and 6 acts can actually be super helpful in storytelling. Overadherence to rules makes us get stuff like the slavish devotion to 3 act structure which isn't even all that effective all the time. I think you have to have a strong understanding of why people follow these rules before you start bending them and doing your own thing. But on the flip side of that, don't break rules just to break rules. Don't follow rules just because they're rules, break rules when they help make the point better.
#Rule 1 of storywriting license
However, what I learned over time is that creative license is definitely in effect as long as anything you do is reinforcing what you're trying to do.
I used to be like this, and by admission, I still kind of am. Apparently people have this mindset of "overpowered characters are bad!" Ironically this will lead to weaker, "realistic" characters looking more overpowered if taken so thoroughly at face value. Wouldn't it be actually far more worse if the foreshadowing is always hammered a lot?Īnd we're not even getting to character writing. From what I heard people complain about "lack of foreshadowing" despite the fact that ever so often you actually get hints of certain events, even if just once. So much so that apparently you have people complaining why "A and B interact with each other so much yet we don't see A and C interact at all!" despite A and C interacting quite fine, just not the focus and are mostly just passive background scenes.Īnd then there's foreshadowing. Like for instance, we all know show don't tell.
It seems to me that a lot of people take the supposed "storywriting rules" to heart they learned from those help books or those websites that criticize teenage/amateur writing, immediately criticizing the work because they spot it, but often forgetting that these are more like guidelines and that usually these things have to be viewed within the context of the story.
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