Since I was in my elementary days I have been an aspiring writer.
I started off inventing my own magazines, own news paper, and love stories, of course (for such a young age!). I have always loved reading stories, therefore, if I were to get hooked on writing, well, the initial hobby made it inevitable for me to be lead in this writing hobby.
My writing improved and improved. When it comes to the English grammar, I found myself comfortable with it (and fluent) since I also practice speaking it so often since I was a kid. Tagalog is my native language, so I don't have much problem with it either. Moreover, I have been a school paper writer during elementary and high school.
But I don't know. Sometimes, the desire to go with the trend, to be appealing to the mass or to please readers, I began to forget the rules in writing.
It actually started off during the rising popularity of the Wattpad website. I found different kinds of writers there, but majority of them wrote kind of a little different from what I have seen.
Some used emoticons, improper spacing, wrong grammar, improper use of punctuation marks, etc. And most of them wrote on first person POV! To tell the truth, it seemed fun to me. I am very open to things that are new to me and experimental too, so I also adapted that style on one of my stories (just one story), and unbelievably, it had a lot of read and votes than my formally written stories. Why did I do that? Because of pressure, I guess. Envy, I guess. I desired to be heard, to lure people to read my story, to gain the appreciation I need to motivate myself to write. I let the people motivate me and not my inspirations.
Still, I don't know why I felt uncomfortable with it. So I usually bounce back to my old and own way of writing, and one Wattpad writer commented, appreciating that he still found a writer who follows the rules when it comes to writing.
It was flattering, I saw his point on how important it is to follow the rules in writing. Not just that you are expressing your ideas in a story in a proper way, but it also is a visible proof of the quality of your work. As a writer, it matters to avoid typos, use the proper punctuation marks and the right grammar.
Some may think that being a writer is a gift, a talent. But as for me, it's the imagination that is a gift. Writing is a matter of practice, a skill to enhance to be able to reach a lot of people with your words. But then again, there are no exceptions to the rule.
With that, I learned to be my real self when I write. Rules in writing? They will always be important to me. It helped me not to let the pressure change my style, nor go with the trend when I don't have to.
For being a writer, you are not just responsible with the message your story gives to its readers, but the quality of your work is in your own writing's presentation grammar-wise, and the right punctuation marks.
The trends may fade away, but not the rule.
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