How not to write...

The Ten Commandments of Crime Fiction, by Dana Kaye at Hey, There's A Dead Guy In My Livingroom blog. 

The Ten Commandments of Crime Fiction

1.    Thou shall not cut your characters any slack

Plots are most compelling when the characters have the odds stacked against them

2.   Thou shall develop your characters

No one likes one-dimensional characters

3.    Thou shall not head hop

Switching POV mid-scene pulls readers out of the story

4.    Thou shall earn every coincidence

While life contains many coincidences, they have little place in your novel

5.    Thou shall omit unnecessary scenes

If a scene does not further the plot, it has no place in your novel

6.    Thou shall not rely on cliché

Does this really require explanation?

7.    Thou shall omit needless adverbs

We don’t need to know how someone sighed or shrugged or shouted

8.    Thou shall utilize your setting

The setting of your novel should enhance your characters and plot

9.    Thou shall revise

I don’t care what your mother says, your first draft is not perfect

10.  Thou shall not settle

Don’t settle on an easy ending or an easy fix to a plot problem

Comments

[Cynthia]

Amen!

[Sylvia]

I like these - but ....

I recently read something where bad things happened to the MC, and happened more, and happened more, and happened more. And although I agree with the commandment not to cut slack, in this case I did think "maybe someone should tell her it doesn't ALL have to be hellacious."

I guess that bad luck doesn't always equal conflict? I don't know, I definitely am more likely to be too nice than to be too cruel. A friend of mine cackles every time the plot veers around a new corner and I imagine her characters sighing with dismay. But it works, it really does.

But it's definitely easy to overdo it, too!