Hey! Grammar has rules, English has rules, and there are certain rules that your teachers tell you never to break. Things like fragmented sentences, dangling participles, passive voice, head-hopping whatever.
Guess what! You can break them! As a writer, breaking certain rules will give your story a different tone.
Short sentences can help build tension. For example:
They’re watching.
Waiting.
Patient, ever patient.
They stand quietly, barely twitching. A swish of the tail, a blink of an eye.
Some say they’re friendly. But I can tell. They’re waiting for us to drop our guard.
Stupid cows.
See? That bit of writing is tense. It helps to set the scene and tell you a bit about the narrator. But I broke several rules. (Comment if you spot them all!)
As the saying goes, rules are made to be broken. But be intentional. Break rules with a purpose, not for the sake of breaking rules.
If you follow the rules, all the time, you will turn out a respectable book. It might seem a little dry, but your reader won’t know the difference. But by breaking certain rules sometimes, you vary sentence length, tone, and can even write less (words, I mean).
So yeah. Break rules. Intentionally.
Just so you know, I have extended the sale on Screenshot, so it is still only 99 cents. I’ll even give away a few copies of the ebook, just send me an email.
Again, I am giving away Unidentified, so email me if you wanted a free ebook of that.
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