The 1 ‘grammar’ rule I break … and yes … on purpose
So, as you know, I do a lot of writing. Go ahead, say it ….. ::groan:: you know. 🙂 Well … I *try* really, really, really hard to follow the rules of grammar … I mean EVERY rule … like:
o no ‘And’ or ‘But’ at the beginning of a sentence
o Limit (to the extreme) the use of adverbs
o no mixing of present and past tense (yes, I’m anal about this)
o no dangling participles (hahaha!)
But there is one rule that I ‘break’ because well … I like to.
Now hear me out.
In writing fiction, the use of words that end in ‘ing’ are considered ‘telly’. Meaning you the writer aren’t taking the time to properly format your words such that they show the story instead of just ‘tell’ it. (If you are not a writer, gloss over this, just know that it’s not a good idea to use -ing words everywhere).
Now … if I write this blip …
“Her hair moved about her face; she danced, shimmied her way around the parquet floor.”
The grammar police will say … ‘no!’ ‘wait!’ that’s incorrect!! It should be:
“Her hair moved about her face; she danced, shimmying her way around the parquet floor.”
Another grammarian will say … ‘you forgot a word!’ It should be:
“Her hair moved about her face; she danced and shimmied her way around the parquet floor.”
BUT…
Because I think the ‘-ing’ word breaks other rules AND *could* be a gerund or present participle (though I’m not sure which — any grammar wiz’s out there?) *I* choose to write in what one friend called staccato text and yes, folks … *I* LIKE IT.
My ONLY caveat to this ‘break’ is that *IF* an agent were to ask me to pick or choose which one to do … and not to write poetically (I’ll show you that in a minute) then I would go through and add the word ‘and’ to my 100,000 words. Yes, yes, I’d do it … for someone else, but not for me, because again.. *I* like it.
Why do I like?
Well … read it this way…
Her hair moved about her face;
she danced,
shimmied her way around the parquet floor.
Now what does it look like?
Poetry?
Well then … why can’t I make my fiction poetry-like? No one says I can’t and there are plenty who say … ‘break the grammar rules!’
So, this is the ONE rule I break, in favor of what I call my … poetic fiction style.
Hmm. Does that make me a rule breaker, too? I’ve been know to structure my sentences that way before LOL, but then I have been known to write poetry, so …
Ooooh … you rule breaker, you!! 🙂 I’ve see the structure in your work. I don’t see it in many people’s and not everyone is ‘bothered’ by that structure, but some do call it out. Had this long discussion with my hubby about it last night to which he thought it ‘weird’ until I showed him the ‘poetry-like’ way and he went … but you’re not writing poetry and I said … but maybe I am. 😉
And then he said .. “all rules are made to be broken” … it’s still weird. Ha! 🙂
Personally, I don’t find it to be so much about ‘telling’, but more about pace. Too many ‘ing’ words slow it down. To say somebody rocked, rolled, jigged their behind till it damn near fell away, sounds much more active than they were rocking, rolling, and jigging …. IMO 😛
And you hubby actually listened while you talked about this? Hahahaha. Mine would have took shimmying steps toward the door before announcing he had someplace else to be 😉 I’m VERY impressed with him. 🙂
Pace is definitely a factor. I’m with ya!
And oh yeah … hubby LOVES grammar stuff. It’s all ‘logic’ to him and he loves to compare how English is written to foreign languages (Spanish in particular) because to him English sucks and Spanish rocks (yet he’s purely a white-American LOL )… it’s just in the construction and rules that English screws everything up! 🙂
Gotta say I’m with your hubs on this one, Aimee. I likes my conjunctions and my -ing words. However, shouldn’t be a “never” to anything. Sometimes I think we try too hard to follow the writing (not necessarily grammar) “rules” that say no adverbs, no sentences beginning with “and” or “but”, no using “thing” or “stuff”, no sentence fragments, no “-ing” words, etc.
I agree with the poetry analogy and say write whatever flows. But to me, a missing conjunction (and that alone is a judgment call cause sometimes/most times I use them, but not always) sounds like a stutter and that breaks the flow.
Each to his own though. If we all wrote the same way, we’d lose a lot of what makes a book and its author unique.
(On an aside, I am loathing your anti-spam letters. I have a hard time reading them. Ask your hubs to get your another type please? I feel so stupid that I can’t always distinguish the separate letters.)
😛 <– That's for you Claire. 😉 🙂
On the reCAPTCHA, got no control over that. Sorry!!! I'd say squint, but that makes it worse! 🙂 LOL