The Mudcat Café TM
Thread #8139   Message #50924
Posted By: Alice
25-Dec-98 - 05:12 PM
Thread Name: Cheer me up PLEASE
Subject: RE: Cheer me up PLEASE
Well, this thread IS getting a bit cumbersome, although it is only 10 days old. It is so long, it's difficult to remember all that have been written. Here is another to assist in all of your literary efforts.

alice
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Rules for Writers...
1. Verbs HAS to agree with their subjects.
2. Prepositions are not words to end sentences with.
3. And don't start a sentence with a conjunction.
4. It is wrong to ever split an infinitive.
5. Avoid cliches like the plague. (They're old hat)
6. Also, always avoid annoying alliteration.
7. Be more or less specific.
8. Parenthetical remarks (however relevant) are (usually) unnecessary.
9. Also too, never, ever use repetitive redundancies.
10. No sentence fragments.
11. Contractions aren't necessary and shouldn't be used.
12. Foreign words and phrases are not apropos.
13. Do not be redundant; do not use more words than necessary; it's highly superfluous.
14. One should NEVER generalize.
15. Comparisons are as bad as cliches.
16. Don't use no double negatives.
17. Eschew ampersands & abbreviations, etc.
18. One-word sentences? Eliminate.
19. Analogies in writing are like feathers on a snake.
20. The passive voice is to be ignored.
21. Eliminate commas, that are, not necessary.
Parenthetical words however should be enclosed in commas.
22. Never use a big word when a diminutive one would suffice.
23. Kill all exclamation points!!!
24. Use words correctly, irregardless of how others use them.
25. Understatement is always the absolute best way to put forth earth shaking ideas.
26. Use the apostrophe in it's proper place and omit it when its not needed.
27. Eliminate quotations. As Ralph Waldo Emerson said, "I hate quotations. Tell me what you know."
28. If you've heard it once, you've heard it a thousand times: Resist hyperbole; not one writer in a million can use it correctly.
29. Puns are for children, not groan readers.
30. Go around the barn at high noon to avoid colloquialisms.
31. Even IF a mixed metaphor sings, it should be derailed. 32. Who needs rhetorical questions?
33. Exaggeration is a billion times worse than understatement.
34. Proofread carefully to see if you any words out.
36. The biggest mistake inexperienced writers make is to write in run on sentences that just go on, and on, never getting to the point, with endless repetition of commas, or tediously belaboring the idea until the reader is so sick of the concept being put forth that they tire of reading ....oh, well you get what I mean, it's kind of like this discussion thread, in which we have copied and pasted emails from our joke folders and begged our sons and daughters to tell again the punchlines we have forgotten, and yet it has all been fun and probably has provided a bit of cheer to everyone who has read it, except, of course the people who may be merely annoyed by it all.