My wife took several art classes in college for her degree. The students and teachers fixated on abstract art and called anybody’s work that looked good “commercial.” I quickly gleaned that this was coded speech for “we suck and call it abstract to mask our lack of skill.” Thus, I am wary when somebody says there are no rules in writing. Do whatever you want. Let’s rethink that.

The Obvious Example

If you randomly press keys and hand that in as your magnum opus of our time, you’ve failed to write because you’ve failed to communicate. You can’t claim the following makes any sense:

Fhskjdfh gdfgsd dfgsdfg sdfgsdf adfsg erge tr hty jtjytjtyu jytrt eryret ejtjh jeythe.

We need to use words that the reader knows. Maybe some words get new meanings, or go out of fashion, but comprehensibility is a hard rule. The idea that there are no rules is thus quashed. Clearly, there’s at least one. It’s the rest that might be negotiable.

Another Metaphor

I like woodworking. I’m no master, there’s no heirloom furniture coming out of my shop Though somebody’s going to inherit some odd pieces one day because they’ll last that long. In the old days, a master craftsman would take on an apprentice. The fledgling woodworker would follow directions and build basic things. They didn’t have the skills and attention to detail to make perfectly fitting joints and baby bottom smooth sanded surfaces. So they had to follow the rules and measure twice before they cut. Once they improved, then they could deviate and do things on the fly and still have it turn out great.

Best Practice Not Rules

Let’s move the goal post. The reason I might tell somebody to avoid passive voice or adverbs is evident in their work. If we mark that stuff yellow and then go blind by how brightly marked it is, they’re gonna get told that. The “rules” exist because a lot of somebodies overdid it. The rules are really best practices. What the pirates might call “guidelines.” Only a true pedant will mark up a lone adverb on a page. Ignore that guy. Most of the rules are like sanding and polishing a block of wood. Nobody wants to get a splinter or feel an uneven piece.

All those rules and tips folks might give you are about improving your chances of having good work. Yes, a master can break the rules, but that’s craftsmanship. The rest of us aspire to that, but in the meantime, we want to sell work and have it read.

Pablo Picasso

Back to that story from the beginning. Pablo Picasso made a lot of funky art. Abstract some might call it, though all his pieces had a basis in reality. Before he started down that path, he had studied with the greats and mastered the techniques. His brushstrokes are perfection and control, not random and sloppy. This is what those hacks from our university lacked. So it is with writing. Study the rules, get used to how they work and why. Master them. Then the training wheels fall off and you can get funky.

Dues Be Due

The life lesson here is to pay your dues. More old folks get published than young. For one reason, they’ve been writing longer. Now anybody can figure out their craft sooner. Age is not a requirement. But time in the chair, honing the craft is. Whether its fan-fiction, bad poetry, or another novel, keep at it. And keep learning what the rules are and see how they affect your work. By applying them and seeing the difference, you learn and become a master.

Epilogue of Craft

It can take a while to find a teacher or a place where you can learn your craft. Later in life, my wife attended classes at the local community college. There she learned figure drawing and how to approach drawing, painting, and sketching. You can find her work on Twitter and Instagram as @Faerywing.

If you enjoyed this article, follow KL Forslund on Twitter @KLForslund.