makes with the wisdom

Janni Simner does, on writing and rules:

I think the fear is: if I don't follow the rule that writer over there uses, am I not a real writer?

We are all, of course, afraid we're not real writers. (Especially while we're, say, composing rants for our weblogs instead of, well, writing. But again I digress.)

There's no "you can't do this," in writing, though there's always "you did this badly" or "this doesn't seem to be working for this story" or "you did this and I'm not interested in your tale because of it." There's even "This story because it sucks large rocks through a straw."

But there's no "this story doesn't work because you relied on pathetic fallacies" or "this story doesn't work because you didn't follow 17 and a half point plot structure" or "this story doesn't work because you failed to read the latest book on how to properly build a bestselling career."

There are no rules. And anyone who finds this a terrifying thought--who wants to be told what to do and how to do it, who isn't comfortable at least some of the time feeling their way through--is possibly going to find writing an uncomfortable thing to pursue.

This was so, so what I needed to read today, Ms. Simner.

And if you do it badly, you just keep going until you get it right.

Thx.