Universal Writing Rules

There are three rules for writing the novel. Unfortunately, no one knows what they are.

W. Somerset Maugham
English dramatist & novelist (1874 – 1965)

That was a  somewhat cynical view of the craft of writing. Sometimes I feel like they are not too far off the mark.

Despite that, we can but try to work out what this writing game is all about, and how to achieve with a moderate amount of success. In another life I was a classroom teacher for 35 years; near the end of that career I often  said that I’d finally worked what this teaching thing is all about. I’m convinced that writing is the same; many years of practice is what it takes to discover what this writing thing is all about, and how it works.

Despite Somerset Maugham’s cynicism, there are some basic universal rules one can apply to all writing in order to improve it. An article appeared on ProBlogger a few days ago which addresses this very issue, with some commonsense rules to apply to every piece of writing to make it better – or even the best you can do. A worthy aim with all your writing after all.

You can read the article here: 5 Universal Writing Rules

You can read more on this topic by clicking on the links below.

Further reading:

• Five rules for effective writing
• Making your writing more readable
• Top 5 writing hints