Salt In Writing

Salt is delicious.  It can take otherwise bland and lifeless foods and convert them into delicious, flavorful cuisine.  Until you add too much.

I was listening to Mur Lafferty the other day (on her I Should Be Writing podcast) talking about how there are all these "rules" that authors have (no prologues, no adverbs, etc.) that get broken by famous authors all the time.  The concept made me start thinking that perhaps these rules are like saying "don't use salt."  Basically, you have to use it at some point, but the techniques are generally listed as things to stay away from because people that are not masters tend to overdo them like dropping eight pounds of rock salt into a delicately spiced meal.  No matter how much you get the rest of the ingredients just perfect, all you will taste is the salt. And it will not taste good.  (Unless it is Bacon Salt, which is a whole other story).

Regardless, I don't have much to add other than the metaphor, but it was just some illustration that popped in my head and helped me think of how to use and not to use all of the thousands of rules guidelines that are out there.

Will have something interesting later this week, perhaps.  Keep writing and don't use too much salt.  Enjoy.