Breaking writing rules has become a favorite pastime. Making a living as a marketer, including SEO in Charlotte NC, I try to pay attention to writing guidelines. If I am working on a radio or TV campaign I remember what I used to tell students about best practices. But I have to admit, breaking those rules has become more common.
Sample-
Rule- Try to write one on one like a casual conversation. Get close to your reader and be real.
Broken rule- Magazine and Daily Headlines. It works daily all over the world.
Rule- Use short sentences. Malcolm Gladwell’s style. OK for him, I guess.
Broken rule- Are you kidding? I can find some really long sentences in all kinds of articles, books, news stories and screenplays that work just great.
Rule- Try to always tell a story with your copy.
Broken rule – Okay, I admit defeat on this one. If you really tell a story you will have something good even if there are grammatical mistakes and run on sentences. So, I lose on this one.
Rule- Use word pictures to bring your paragraphs to life like this- ‚ the gray rocks were spattered with blood from the soldiers wound’s‘. Or‘ „the yellow downy feathers of the Easter chicks made the old newspaper in the bottom of the cardboard box look sunny.“
Broken rule – next time you have three hours listen to the radio and try your best to find somebody using word pictures as part of their announcer banter. It probably won’t happen, yet that’s the one medium where it should constantly occur. But, even with this broken rule, radio works just fine.
Rule- stay within the guidelines of sentence structure and grammar.
Broken rule-only if you’re a high school English teacher in some far-off fantasyland. Rule following is not something professional writers do well yet many of them make a pretty good living.
Rule- avoid using cliches like the plague.
Broken rule-I love a good cliche as much as anybody. “ And, as they say the rest is history“. „Christmas is just around the corner“. „Once upon a time“.
Don’t use old familiar phrases at your own peril. Something about the familiar endears you to your reader. These kinds of old sayings definitely have a place.
Rule – Be exact because generalities are too vague and less memorable.
Broken rule – Using the rule of seven‘ on the Internet has become such a generality that it is no longer exact! Internet marketers price everything at $47, or $97, or $997. This is an example of exactness morphed into a generality.
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