some writer snob somewhere: Do not start sentences with But or And because doing so is grammatically incorrect.
me, writing my fic: But I don’t care. And you can’t stop me.
To my beta’s profound dismay.
Okay, writeblr, I have a genuine question: I understand the logistics of why this makes sense. That being said, the last ten critically-acclaimed books I have read do this on the regular – and that is not an exaggeration.
Am I missing something? Is this one of those “rules” (emphasis on the air quotes) that everyone unanimously decides to ignore? If so, should I follow in the others’ examples or should I follow the rules? The rule follower in me wants to die every time I see someone do it…but it also feels right?
If anyone tells you not to start sentences with “but” or “and” in creative writing, they’re full of shit. If you’re writing an academic paper, sure, avoid starting with and or but because that makes them incomplete sentences (though I majored in English, did this regularly, and got great grades in my papers, so it depends on your major too).
But with creative writing, as long as it’s like… coherent, do whatever the fuck you want. You’re trying to establish a character’s voice, not win the Most Grammatically Correct award. People don’t talk or think in perfect English and neither should your characters.
If you see a rule that’s being picky about grammar rules like this, assume it’s meant to apply to academic/professional writing only. Applying it to your creative work will not only bring you pain and suffering but also make your narration and dialogue stiff and awkward.
Speaking as a fiction editor, being a petty little grammar pedant is rarely useful outside of academia. As a writer you want to create something that flows, that engages the reader. Not sound like you were stunned over the head with a copy of “Eats, Shoots & Leaves”, which by the way, is a terrible book. Don’t read that. The author is an elitist snob, and they might know how grammar works, but that’s the extent of their skill.
Basic grammar, yes. Good. Smashing.
But you can safely ignore anyone that tells you “said is dead”. Said is not dead, said is undead and wishes people would stop trying to replace it when it’s a perfectly good word to use.
My own novel is “diverse” filled with queer people of color, but you should never use “diversity” as a selling-point because then it doesnt feel authentic. It feels like its there just to hook people in and not because its an intrinsic part of the world or storytelling.
Everybody in my first novel is japanese, because its anime-inspired. Many of the chracters are queer or trans [or both] because I just like writing those kinds of characters. but when I have a trailer Im going to focus on the plot, on the lore, on the artwork [IF WE CAN EVER AFFORD IT C’: ], etc.
Because when you use diversity as a selling point it feels insincere.
Give them the plot. Give them the characters. Give them the world. Give them your WORK and let them discover the “diversity” for themselves.
ATLA didnt brag about how diverse the show was– it just gave you a show inspired by all kinds of asian and Inuit culture that featured people of color, disabled characters, and well-written female heroes as a natural part of the story.
I never once went “omg atla is so progressive its got a blind girl uwu”
i went “HOOOOLY SHIT, TOPH IS BADASS.”
And that’s what you want.
If people are only interested in your show because it meets a diversity checklist, then you’ve done a poor job as a writer. : And thats not me trying to trash it, thats just my honest opinion. If you’ve done a good job then you could have every single character be a trans woman of color without needing to go “WE’RE TRANS-INCLUSIVE!!” once; and all people will care about is how much they love their favorite characters.
I like to believe that all the dragons in the world were magically cursed and turned into cats. But cats have never forgotten where they come from, hence the attitude.
I nearly didn’t reblog this but the above comment makes more sense than anything I’ve ever heard.
…that’s…that’s actually a story my mom used to tell me when I was little? That a dragon showed up at someone’s cottage so they gave it milk. And the dragon enjoyed the milk, so it kept coming back and got smaller and softer and purry-er until eventually it wasn’t a dragon anymore, it was a cat, and that’s where cats came from and why we keep giving them milk.
She might have gotten the story from Ursula K. Le Guin, or I have confused it with a different dragon story.
That’s also why cats tend to hoard their toys behind the couch!
Actually the story is even older. Written by a woman named Edith Nesbit, first published in 1899, it is called “The Dragon Tamers”. It predates Leguin and other fantasy biggies like Lewis and Tolkien.
Nesbit actually can be credited with being one of the first authors that began to shift myths and legends to more fantasy-like stories (fantasy as a genre how we know it, wasn’t around then because it was just part of literature, especially British literature). In fact, many scholars who study fantasy literature and children’s literature believe that, since her children’s stories were so popular with children in England, the stories and their content prompted Tolkien (the first to coin fantasy as its own genre in his essay “On Fairy Stories”) to take up the stories of dragons and elves and fairies as they’d have been children when she was writing.
Tolkien was born in 1892. He would have been 7 when “The Dragon Tamers” was first published. Edith Nesbit did a LOT for modernizing myths, legends, and lore as a children’s author, maybe more than we will ever know.
XI's Archived Tumblr Blog 