your inviolable rules of writing

[hondo]

I can guarantee no writer will post "file on time."

File on time. I'm a writer.
Of course, I'm also a former desker, so there's that.

I've never been a desker but I always make deadline so they love me.

 

[hondo]

1. The word win is not a noun. Deskers keep it alive because it fits in a one-column head.
2. There is no such thing as "preps" any more. No one calls secondary or high schools "prep schools" unless the word "prep" is part of the school's official name. And very few have that. 99.9998 of people call them high schools. Again, prep is a word kept alive by the desk because of the aforementioned one-column fit.
3. Agree with a previous poster that the word "just" is overused. But it's also overused even more in quotes. My pet peeve about team sports athletes: many of them could not speak a sentence unless they begin it with "Basically, we just ....." And, basically sucks too.
4. This rule is getting broken more and more, by writers who should know better and editors who don't spot it: "Tom Brady completed passes to eight different receivers." Don't need the word different. It should be understood that he's not completing passes to Rob Gronkowski and his seven clones. Eight receivers is fine.
5. Major pet peeve in golf. Tiger Woods doesn't miss a birdie putt. He misses a birdie-putt attempt. A putt is a birdie only if it goes in the hole. If it misses, then he has a par-putt attempt.

 

[Versatile]

1. The word win is not a noun. Deskers keep it alive because it fits in a one-column head.

Its entry in the dictionary as a noun may be a contributing factor.

 

[3OctaveFart]

Hondo nailed it.

 

[typefitter]

"Try and..." is among the many things that drive me mental.

 

[Oggiedoggie]

Limerick ledes are vastly overrated.

 

[RickStain]

Most readers' answer to all question leads will be "I don't care."

 

[BillyT]

Never start a story, any story, ever, with a f*cking quote. It's lazy and a sign of a hack.

I am willing to occasionally bend this rule but it has to be a quote so good that it doesn't belong below anything else and that rarely, if ever, happens.

Also, be objective. Unless you're writing an opinion piece, leave your opinion out of it.

I have searched and searched for the right exception and have not found one in at least a decade.

How about question leads?

 

[BillyT]

The passive voice is never to be used.

 

[Versatile]

Never start a story, any story, ever, with a f*cking quote. It's lazy and a sign of a hack.

I am willing to occasionally bend this rule but it has to be a quote so good that it doesn't belong below anything else and that rarely, if ever, happens.

Also, be objective. Unless you're writing an opinion piece, leave your opinion out of it.

I have searched and searched for the right exception and have not found one in at least a decade.

How about question leads?

I generally dislike questions in stories because we should be providing answers.

 

[brandonsneed]

"Begs the question" doesn't mean "raises the question."

 

[inthesuburbs]

Be clear.