The Ten Commandments of Writers

The reader lost in a story is thy god.

Thou shalt not disrupt the zen of the reader.

Thou shalt not make technical errors that boot thy reader out of the story.

Thou shalt hold no other goal higher than the reader’s full immersion in the story.

Remember thy writing time and keep it holy.

Honour thy voice and the rules of thy fictional world.

Thou shalt not kill off characters just for fun.

Thou shalt not write love triangles that are exactly the same as hundreds of other fictional love triangles.

Thou shalt not steal more than a few ideas from one fellow author.

Thou shalt not make characters do things they would not do.

Thou shalt not covet false sympathy by making thy character an orphan.