My Principles of Writing
(a work in progress)
There are six basic principles I hold to in my writing, which I have gradually clarified over the past few years. I do not, to be clear, view these as
universal principles - while I may like a work that goes against them slightly less, that doesn't mean I can't still enjoy it, and by no means do I claim that they're
objective principles at all - but in my own works, I try to stick to them, slightly less strenously in comedy but, to at least some extent, in all works. Those principles are:
- Protagonists are important because the story focuses on them, not the other way around.
- You don't learn anything by looking in a perfectly reflective mirror.
- Exaggeration makes for good comedy... even if that wasn't what you were going for.
- Trying to please everyone pleases no one, but the responsibility of pleasing people is yours.
- Characters are what matter.
- Tropes are building blocks, but they aren't jigsaw pieces.
Protagonists are important because the story focuses on them, not the other way around.
(in progress)
You don't learn anything by looking in a perfectly reflective mirror.
A fair number of science fiction authors I've read have said something to the effect of "science fiction doesn't matter for what it can tell us about the future, but in what it can tell us about the present". I agree, wholeheartedly, but I think that comes with a caveat: in order to do this, the future depicted in science fiction must be
different from the present.
(in progress)
Exaggeration makes for good comedy... even if that wasn't what you were going for.
When I say "exaggeration" here, I'm not using the word in its conventional sense. Rather, I'm using it in a sense I coined a few months back, to refer to a concept that I've been pondering for much longer. "Exaggeration", here, refers to any attempt in fiction to make the crucial aspects of the story - characters, and
especially their emotions - more dramatic or over-the-top then in real life.
(in progress)
Trying to please everyone pleases no one, but the responsibility of pleasing people is yours.
(in progress)
Characters are what matter.
This seems like a somewhat obvious statement, but I don't think it is.
(in progress)
Tropes are building blocks, but they aren't jigsaw pieces.
This is the only principle I've adopted specifically because of TV Tropes, though it's
not just applicable to here.
(in progress)
