Ten Rules of Good Writing

Brother Josh Allen is my Creative Writing teacher during my Winter semester at BYU-Idaho. I've learned a lot from him that I want to share with those that  have hopes and aspirations to be a writer. He made a list of Ten Rules he believes will make a story much better. If you have all ten of them, you are definitely on the right track.

1. Good writing is about desire. A character is someone who wants. Only people who want are interesting. People who want nothing mean nothing.
2. Good writing is about trouble. Perfect lives are boring and so are perfect people. The only interesting events that ever come to humanity do so because of trouble and human flaw. Therefore, good literature makes use of antagonists.
3. Good writing is carefully structured. Our work should generally adhere to some version of Conflict → Climax → Resolution.
4. Good writing earns its climaxes. Our stories and poems must "reap what they sow." They must build to a climax, avoid the dreaded dues ex machina, and bestow grace or punishment upon our characters only when doing so is warranted.
5. Good writing doesn't happen to characters – it happens because of characters. Good writing is about transformation, so we should avoid the stagnant. We must end our works either 1) in a new emotional place or 2) in the same emotional place but with greater emotional intensity.
6. Good writing "belongs" to somebody. Our works should be about a specific character and that character's struggles. Everything we include should relate perfectly to that character's development.
7. Good writing presents at least one round character. Preferably, characters will not be revealed through summary but through their speech, appearances, names, gestures, actions, and reactions to others. To make a character round, we can set one of these characteristics against the others.
8. Good writing presents at least one dynamic character. Good writing is about transformation, so we should avoid the stagnant. Also, interesting characters learn. They move from Point A to Point B.
9. Good writing communicates emotion through concerete images, not abstractions. "There are no ideas but in things," said William Carlos Williams. Communicate through the 5 senses that humans used to explore and learn about their world when they were only babies. 
10. Good writing avoids clichés. Cliches are unoriginal and emotionless. Don't use them.

These are basic rules for the beginning writer. When you become better, you can tweak these rules. You could use a cliché just to make fun of it. You could do a lot of things that aren't mentioned in here. But these are good guidelines to get off the ground with.

Uses these rules a basis for critiquing your own and other's work. I've found them to be extremely helpful in my own.

Note: Other posts where I've talk about things I've learned in relation to writing this semester are Two Poems of Mine and Mosiah 11, Alma 30, and Alma 42.