- Other people are inconvenient.
- Different people want different things and will do the same thing for different reasons.
- It is hard for the hero to get things that will solve his problems.
- It is easy for the hero to get things that give him new problems.
- It is double-plus-hard for the hero to get important things he really needs, unless he doesn't know he needs them. (The "Dorothy's Ruby Slippers" Rule.)
- Symmetry is your friend.
- Repetition is your enemy.
- Set things up. Pay them off.
- A sidekick or a love interest is not made by giving them the general description and having them stand in rough proximity to the hero.
- Avoid making sympathetic characters the enemy of the audience.
- The enemy of the audience is anything that gets in the way of the audience being entertained.
Discuss, or post your own. If your writing id had rules, what would they look like?
Originally posted on my DW. |
