Knowing the Rules vs Following the Rules

Anyone who knows me well knows that I am, generally speaking, a rule follower and law obeyer.  Yes, I am the one who stops at a red light on a country road at night when there is clearly no one around, waiting patiently for the green light. I do my best (although not perfectly) to adhere to the speed limit. I don't park in parking spaces designated for the disabled, and I don't violate warnings of "No Trespassing."

In most of my life, knowing the rules and following the rules are the same thing.

But it's not true with writing.

Oh, I know the rules.  I definitely know all the rules. I just choose not to follow them all the time.  Call it my own personal little rebellion against "the man."  I'll defiantly start sentences with conjunctions (like I just did above), or I'll brazenly end sentences with prepositions. I'm the queen of the run-on sentence and the duchess of the dangling participle.

Why?  Because it's the prerogative of creativity to ignore the rules sometimes.

However, you really have to know the rules well first.  I've read pieces of writing that were riddled with grammatical errors that were obviously unintentional.  That's not creativity.  That's poor writing. I've also read writing that was masterfully written; not only did the grammatical "errors" not interfere with the meaning of the piece, but they actually enhanced it by clarifying the voice of the author. It's a thing of beauty when it's done right.  It's painful to read when it's not.

So, here I sit with more education than should be allowed by law, expertly  aware of the rules of writing and doing whatever I want to anyway. I'm a rebel. I'm a literary outlaw.

I'm a writer.

-------------------------------------

Read more A Writer's Journey.