Playing By the Rules

I don't have a problem with God's rules. At least not when I'm being spiritual. I should say, I break God's rules like everyone else, but I agree that the principles God sets forth work absolutely and are there for our benefit.

Rules that people come up with make me crazy. Always have. I got in trouble in school as early as kindergarten for questioning rules. I continued to be admonished on a regular basis for standing up to the injustice of certain rules during the thirteen years I spent in Christian school.
So here I am, an adult, a wife, a mother. And I still struggle with rules. I abhor being placed in a box by someone else, especially when everything within me says to go the opposite way.

I am a writer, trying to be published, because you can't really be taken seriously as a writer unless someone else reads what you've written. And I've had nonfiction published by one source on a regular basis. But not before I was rejected by them and learned to write exactly what they wanted to read.

So I read all the books I can find on writing. I take notes. I listen to what other writers have to say. And most of it makes me a better writer, and I am thankful for all the information that is available.

But sometimes the way that the publishing world works causes the rebellion to seep into my spirit. I read today that readers expect certain genres to follow basic guidelines. Romances should have light plot and heavy description. Suspense should have little character emotion and much plot and adventure, etc. Is this really what readers want? I'm a reader, and I'm often frustrated by the lack of plot in romances and the lack of emotion in suspense novels, and so on. Am I the only one? It's a relief to me to sit down and write a suspense novel where you really know what the protagonist is thinking. Or a romantic story that actually has some sort of plot attached to it. I don't like to be told how my story should go. I believe that every writer should be able to decide how the story develops and comes to culmination. I value constructive criticism (I didn't always) and I am not at all against changing parts of my stories that aren't clear or right. That's a no-brainer. But when it comes to writing within genres and following the market, I am not there yet. I don't know if I ever will be. I believe that genres are there to be mixed, not strictly adhered to. Unfortunately, buyer's markets seem to say differently. So if an author choose to write fiction the way he or she wants to, he or she may not be accepted by a publisher. Which means they will never be read and never truly be a "writer" in the eyes of society.

Maybe I will, maybe I won't. I guess I'll leave that in God's hands. I want to grow as a writer, but I also think I should stick to the beliefs I have about writing. Writers wouldn't be writers if they couldn't think for themselves. And the world would be exceedingly boring if no one ever took the risk to do something outside of the realm of normal expected format.

My theme today? Stand out. Be different.