Today I’m presenting you with more rules for genre fiction. I didn’t make the rules up. I’m just passing along the knowledge. Some of it may work for you, and some may not.

1. Don’t start with a dream. It’s been done. Agents and editors gripe about stories that start with a dream. If I pick up a book where the heroine is fighting crime using super powers, I would expect it to be a super hero book. If I purchase it and find out five pages later that she’s a normal girl who dreams of being a super hero, I’m going to be ticked off. It’s bait and switch. Don’t do it.

2. No info dumps. Layer in information as you go. You may think it’s vital to tell the reader that there was a zombie apocalypse four years ago, and now your heroine is fighting to survive. Guess what. Your readers are smart, they will figure it out. Start the book with something like:

 I would not die for a Twinkie, damn it. I swung the bat at the dead guys head, caving in what was left of his skull and he went down. Another zombie crawled towards me on the floor, pulling herself along with her arms. Four years ago, I would’ve felt sorry for the legless freak. Not anymore. Now it was kill or be killed. I stuffed the boxes of Twinkies in my backpack, cramming in as many as I could. When the crawler came within range, I    flattened her skull, hopped on my bike and took off.

3. Don’t introduce every single character in the first chapter. This is called “The Cast Of Thousands” rule. As in, don’t introduce me to the mailman, the grocery store attendant, the main characters best friend’s parents, her cousins, and the troll who lives under the bridge in their back yard. If a character doesn’t have a recurring role in the book, just name the occupation. We don’t need to know his name or that he was the main character’s Sunday school teacher.

4. Most of the time, you don’t need to tell us how a character said something. The words should convey the emotion. “I hate you,” she said with venom in her voice. If a character is telling someone she hates him, we know that she isn’t saying it in a Glenda the Good Witch tone. Once again, the reader is smart. They know what tone goes with certain phrases and words. Only if it’s unclear do you need to explain.

5. The “flying body parts rule” is one of the most argued over rules I know. My characters roll their eyes, because they are teens. It’s what they do. In contemporary romance, you’ll be called on that phrase because it makes it sound like the character is pulling their eyes from their sockets and rolling them like dice. Once again, if you think this rule is stupid, I didn’t make it up. I’m just sharing the constructive criticism.

6. Fiction isn’t real life. We know the steps people take to get ready in the morning. You don’t need to describe how the heroine showers, dries her hair, styles her hair, picks out clothes and puts on makeup. We get it. Hit the highlights that give us an insight into her personality.

Zoe twisted her hair into a knot and secured it with a rubber band. A quick swipe of mascara and lip gloss and she was good to go.

Based on this description we know Zoe isn’t a girl who fusses over her appearance.

7. Do not give all the character’s siblings names that start with the same letter. In real life, you may know Jeff, Janet and James Jones. In a book, names that all start with the same letter are confusing. Some of the best advice I was given was to write out the alphabet and write the characters names beside the appropriate letter. If you used the A for Alan, you won’t forget and use it for Aiden ten pages later.

8. Don’t make your characters perfect. The guy can be tall, dark and handsome with six-pack abs, but he needs to have a flaw. Is he afraid of flying?  Do sparkly, pink Hello Kitty shirts make him break out in a cold sweat? Give him a fault or a flaw and he’s more relatable. Okay, maybe not the Hello Kitty phobia, but you get the idea.

If you can think of any other writing rules please share by posting in the comments.