Friday, May 19, 2006
Yesterday a colleague informed me I could not start a sentence with the word "and." This has been nagging me ever since -- that is just some arbitrary rule that Strunk or somebody made up. It is only applicable to those styles of writing that depend more on the form than the words themselves. The adherence to form is the style, I suppose.
But don't people consider writing a form of art? You can be a "writer" or an "artist" or a "musician," which sets you free of all those silly rules that the other people follow. Good heavens, I'm not even sure the last time I wrote a piece that didn't have a sentence starting with "and." And they were published! (See, there's one!) People have paid me to start sentences with "and"!
Why did they make up that rule, anyway? I don't even know. All I recall is that I was told not to do it when I started writing in elementary school. But sometime in high school, as my own style developed and I began writing professionally (with a heavy dose of crappy poetry on the side inspired by ee cummings), all those rules went out the window. I write one-sentence paragraphs all the time, abuse em-dashes, hate parentheses, etc.
In fact, I probably drive my teachers crazy, because I can't follow the rules but my papers read damn good nonetheless. Sometimes, I think, you have to start a sentence with "and." It adds emphasis. In the second paragraph from the top, I could have made that one sentence, but I would have lost the "pop!" effect I got from splitting the sentence. I could have used an "em-dash," but that's emphasis different that what I wanted. The previous sentence was a complete thought on its own; the next sentence was an addendum, an afterthought, that stands on its own.
Comments? Anyone else think these writing "rules" are bunk? Or do you think I have it all wrong and can't write? It could be true, you know, but I've managed to trick a lot of people into thinking I'm pretty good. Ha.
But don't people consider writing a form of art? You can be a "writer" or an "artist" or a "musician," which sets you free of all those silly rules that the other people follow. Good heavens, I'm not even sure the last time I wrote a piece that didn't have a sentence starting with "and." And they were published! (See, there's one!) People have paid me to start sentences with "and"!
Why did they make up that rule, anyway? I don't even know. All I recall is that I was told not to do it when I started writing in elementary school. But sometime in high school, as my own style developed and I began writing professionally (with a heavy dose of crappy poetry on the side inspired by ee cummings), all those rules went out the window. I write one-sentence paragraphs all the time, abuse em-dashes, hate parentheses, etc.
In fact, I probably drive my teachers crazy, because I can't follow the rules but my papers read damn good nonetheless. Sometimes, I think, you have to start a sentence with "and." It adds emphasis. In the second paragraph from the top, I could have made that one sentence, but I would have lost the "pop!" effect I got from splitting the sentence. I could have used an "em-dash," but that's emphasis different that what I wanted. The previous sentence was a complete thought on its own; the next sentence was an addendum, an afterthought, that stands on its own.
Comments? Anyone else think these writing "rules" are bunk? Or do you think I have it all wrong and can't write? It could be true, you know, but I've managed to trick a lot of people into thinking I'm pretty good. Ha.
