Fiction Writer No-Nos

fiction_no_no.txt

# Fiction Writer No-Nos

What are things you shouldn't do in your stories if you want to be a big-time
fiction writer that makes a living at it?  I mean things that won't make your
story bad, but might hurt your readership and scare off publishers.  For
instance:

* Don't be too technically accurate.  "Hacking" should be exciting, not
  realistic.  Protecting your horse from weather is boring.

* Don't have a villain in your fantasy novel who rapes children.

* Don't talk about the problems of a 500 year old vampire dating a
  high-schooler.

* Don't deal with human racism in a fantasy novel.  That's what orcs and elves
  are for.

* Don't worry about the existential concerns of alien races in war with humans.
  They're just evil.

* Don't bring up the fundamental problems of mainstream politics unless it's a
  comedy.

* Never make police corruption and misbehavior systemic: it's an isolated
  incident.

* Never change much in sci-fi: one or two significant advancements is all
  readers can handle.

* Don't really explain how magic works from a character's point of view.

* Protagonists aren't ugly.

* Never blur the lines between "terrorists" and "freedom fighters".

Don't talk about the problems of a 500 year old vampire dating a high-schooler.

Note trying to cast too much shade, but pretty sure this was so popular they even made it into awful movies too.

Never blur the lines between "terrorists" and "freedom fighters".

If you want to write literature that sells now but will nothing in a year after you write it, aka common drivel, sure. Do you want to write that? In your own name? Why? Plenty of people write more than enough of that, try for greatness instead maybe?