How You Play the Game

How You Play the Game

Grantland Rice wrote: "For when the One Great Scorer comes

                                      To mark against your name--

                                       He writes not that you won or lost---

                                       But HOW you played the game."

So what are the rules for the Writer's Game?  Let me share one writer's list:

1. Rule 1:      Limit 15 words per sentence. Whether you are writing a story, a screenplay, or an ad, remember "Brevity."
2. Rule 2:      Do not use the same word twice in one sentence. *Exception: words of 3 letters or less.
3.  Rule 3:     Limit one adjective at a time.  The tall, towering pines framed the sky.
4.  Rule 4:     Limit  one comma per sentence. This keeps you from saying more than one thing at a time.
5.  Rule 5:    Write like you talk. Eliminate the editorial "we.
6.  Rule 6:    Do not insult the  reader's intelligence.  Charlotte is dead, she weeps no more. It was snowing, the sky was overcast.
7.  Rule 7:      Work to find the perfect word.  "Heavy hangs the head that wears the crown."
8.  Rule 8:      Work to find the perfect verb.   Your words should march, bounce, jump across the page.
9.  Rule 9:      Avoid overuses of the verb "to be".
10.  Rule 10:     Begin the story with a "grabber" and close with a clear "take-away". What you'll sandwich in between in your story is the main character, a crisis, and a solution.