Published in 1965, Dwight V. Swain’s “Techniques of the Selling Writer,” some feel, is a bit outdated. Written before the ubiquitous word processor, Google, and AI gives the book some age; however, after reading the book once and studying through it a second time, I think the book has good information. It is still in print, which speaks about the book’s endurance. The book has information for a freshman writer, like myself, or a senior writer. I’ll be studying through the book again and presenting some of my observations.
Dwight Swain (1915-1992) began his writing career in the 1930s. From publishing short stories, his writing evolved to include mysteries, westerns, and action-adventure stories. He was also a screenwriter.
Swain taught in the Professional Writing Program at the University of Oklahoma, where he oversaw the development of student writers. Students in the program submitted writing assignments. From these submissions, Swain drew many illustrations used to support his points in his nonfiction books about writing, such as Techniques of the Selling Writer, the focus of this discussion.
Writer’s Trap Five – Writing by Rules
A fifth trap for a new writer is that he attempts to write by rules. “No writer in his right mind writes by a set of rules. At least, not by somebody else’s rules. Why not? Because rules start from the wrong end: with restriction; with form; with mechanics; with exhortation about things you should and shouldn’t do. Where should you start, then? With feeling. Your own feeling.” (p. 9) Swain, I think, is not saying that one should ignore the rules of good grammar, though he will say later that even grammar rules should be ignored if called for by the narrative. Feelings, he says, are like the fuel for a car—as a car runs on fuel so a story runs on feelings. That is why Swain argues that the first real rule, which seems contrary to his earlier argument, of every successful story-writing is to find a feeling, or something you can get excited about.
After a writer finds the “feeling” rules become helpful to figure out the best way to capture in words whatever it is that excites. “But the feeling itself must always remain dominant. Though rules may shape your story, you yourself must shape the rules.” (p. 10)
“How do you tell whether a rule is good or not, in terms of a specific problem? Answer: find out the reason why the rule came into being. What idea or principle stands behind it?” He then quotes an aphorism: “The man who knows how will always find a place in life, . . . but the man who knows why will be the boss.” (p. 11)
Swain says that writing a story is a very personal, very individual experience. No one else can do it. The writer has to put his own words down, fight his own battle. Writing by someone else’s rules is like eating corn with someone else’s dentures. Every good driver follows the “Rules of the Road,” but the emotional content of the driver directs the machine. So it is with rules, Swain argues, they are useful, but the emotion must drive the writer.
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