Forget all that complicated advice and memorize these two writing rules.
By: Grant P. Ferguson
Last Updated: March 3, 2025
Rule #1: There are no rules, only writing principles.
Rule #2: Don’t forget Rule #1.
Discover why all those writing rules don’t count.
The First of the Writing Rules
If you read enough bestselling novels, you’ll discover many of the top writers often break what’s taught as writing rules.
You may recall how learning those ironclad ways to write never felt natural. You wanted to know how to tell your story, not how to diagram and punctuate sentences. Later, as you tried to finish your first draft, you found that striving for perfect content kept you from letting the story unfold.
Fortunately, you don’t have to get everything right on the frontend because you can edit out anything that keeps readers from engaging with the story.
The Second of the Writing Rules
After a skin-peeling critique of your work in progress, too often writers give up on free-writing and focus on perfection.
That’s an enormous problem. The definition of perfection states there’s no room for improvement. Have you ever had anything in your life to stay perfect for more than a moment of time? I haven’t, and trying again but getting the same results produced nothing but frustration.
In contrast, the definition of excellence suggests you can make incremental improvements, and each uptick in progress is an opportunity to celebrate those small but important writing victories.
More Writing Principles, Not Rules
Embedded in the Trellis Method’s 12 workbooks are dozens of writing principles.
As I wrote this post, I recalled how those writing principles are spread over the 12 steps in the Trellis Method, and that makes it difficult to find them quickly when you need a reminder.
☞ Would you like those writing principles in one book?
☞ Would that book help you remember Rule #1?
Please let me know if you think it’s worthwhile to create a brief reference book of writing principles.
For example:
Writing Principle: If you want to write and sell novels, overcome the tyranny of the OR by replacing it with AND to find the intersection of your creativity and the marketplace.
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What is the chief writing principle that helped you move forward on your storytelling journey?
12 responses to “You Only Need Two Writing Rules”
I know more about teaching than I do about writing…. Before I retired I spent many hours observing teachers, appreciating their skills, critiquing their lessons. Often the best teachers were the ones that broke the rules regarding what good teachers are supposed do and how they do it. The measure was always not whether they kept the rules, but whether the children/students enjoyed the lesson and learnt.
Thanks for stopping by, Malcolm. Your point about the children/students enjoyed the lesson and learnt parallels my writing benchmark to entertain, inform, and inspire. Enjoy the week!
I don’t believe in rules for writing, but guidelines might cover it. A great deal of reading with experimentation and experience work for me. I did a little training in editing, which helped a lot. I could see the sense of some of the editor’s ‘rules’, but others didn’t seem to matter. One was to always leave some room for the writer’s own voice, which seemed to make sense, but nevertheless it struck me that on the whole those manuscripts went out sounding very alike – not what was required. In short, I took from that job the things that I felt worked and left behind those that didn’t seem to matter. I’m happy with that. 🙂
You nailed my “adopt and adapt” message, Laura, and I appreciated your “left behind those that didn’t seem to matter.” Have a great week!
You too, Grant. Thanks for the post! 🙂
I’m still nodding about, “Have you ever had anything in your life to stay perfect for more than a moment of time? ” Right! Love this reminder that there are no rules!
“skin-peeling critique”–yeah, it’s painful.
Once you get one of those, especially if public, it can end an otherwise promise authorship. We can do better!
Chief principle: that the MC need agency in the story (making decisions and dealing with the consequences of those decisions).
Brilliant, Priscilla… Writing Principle: Give the chief protagonist to enough control so it’s clear they are responsible AND accountable for their choices, including the consequences. [My favorite quote: “Our future comes one choice at a time.”] Have a great week!
Since I have always been a bit of a rule breaker, a reference book of writing principles sounds like a great idea! It seems like principles would be more adaptable than hard and fast rules. Thanks, Grant!
You’re welcome, Dana. It’s nice we can let a bit of that rebel out in our stories. Have fun with your writing!