The things you are mentioning are actually for the reader. For instance, adverbs are fine. So long as the adverb isn’t inherently implied in the definition of the verb. For instance, “She whispered seductively” is fine. “She whispered quietly.” How the hell else is she going to whisper?

Redundant adverbs treat the reader as if they are stupid. “She yelled loudly.” Okay? Again, how else would she yell?

Also, use a stronger verb instead of dressing up a weak one. For instance, “She stood up quickly from her chair.” NO. “She bolted from her chair.”

As for cutting the extraneous. When you have sentences that are too long or have too much going on, you can unintentionally break the fictive dream. If a reader has to pause and go reread to figure out WTH is happening, you risk losing them and bookmarks = DEATH.

In a world where there is a TON of competition for time and 94% of the literate population does not consider themselves readers, we have a tough job. This isn’t the 19th century when people had nothing else to do. We need to hook early and hook hard. Readers don’t have the patience for us to take 50 pages (over an hour and a half reading time for the average person) to start the story.

As for structure. Structure just makes sense on an intuitive level. Stories have a beginning, middle and end. And yes there are nonlinear structures. But, if you cut up all the scenes and set them out side by side, you would see it is Three Act Aristotelian Structure.

Think about life. Humans have infinite variations, but we also have a formulaic structure—one head, one trunk, two arms, two legs, ten toes, ten fingers, two eyes, etc. ANY deviation from this structure is off-putting.

The same goes for story. We are wired for story and, while we can tolerate some deviation, if a writer gets too weird, then most people won’t like it. So if you are artsy and just want to make a statement and win awards, go for it. But the authors who sell a LOT of books appreciate that people’s brains are tired. They want to relax when reading. They don’t mind being challenged (e.g. a mystery) but the challenge is in the story…not figuring out what the hell is going on.

As for genre, you don’t have to write to genre, but then where would you list your books on Amazon? Which keywords would you use? Which categories? Who are your readers? What structure do you use? How long should your book be? Granted, we can blend genres and reinvent them but again within reason.

If I have a fine French restaurant that serves tacos and nachos, I confuse my patrons and am more likely to piss them off than win them over.

As for art. Art comes when you learn the rules then learn when and how to break them. For instance, the book, “You.” 99% of the time second person POV is never used. But for a stalker? It was PERFECT!

Want to write nonlinear structure or unreliable narrators? Something like ‘Pulp Fiction’ or ‘Fight Club’ then great! But you cannot write nonlinear structure if you don’t first understand traditional linear structure.

Mastery is when you ingrain the basics so deeply in your marrow that the ART can surface. You have read SO many books and practiced writing so many works that you have the tools to reinvent genre if you so choose.

Think of Axel Rose. He was a Gospel singer. Meatloaf and Annie Lennox both were classically trained in opera. Jimmy Hendrix started out in blues and jazz and added in those elements when he transitioned to rock.

In fact, Jimmy Hendrix is interesting. Instead of trying to get rid of the feedback noise from the electric guitar (like all other artists had up to that point), he reimagined it and used it and now we ALL think that is what electric guitars are SUPPOSED to sound like. BUT, Hendrix trained classically in music, but in knowing the rules he figured out artistic ways to break them.

I hope my answers help. Remember, we are writing for ourselves unless we want to sell books. Then stories are ALL for the readers. Now that can be books readers know they like. But, we can also create the stories they don’t yet know they’ll like…like Jimi Hendrix did with the electric guitar. BUT, just because Hendrix played with using the feedback didn’t give him license to play a bunch of crap off key and off the beat.

I hope that helps?

I get the feeling as a new author that we’re being encouraged to adhere to certain structural norms. Like the advice to keep adverbs to a minimum, cut out extraneous such and such, start off punchy, stick with your genre expectations. Is storytelling becoming more of a product than an art form? I like to think not. I’m not sure where I’m going with this because dinner calls and I can’t think deeply when timers are beeping. But what is mastery? Is it something different from art?

Hey Nathan! So cool to see you over at my place! Love your stuff. Thanks for all you do.