Writing rules

Painting "Paola I" by Ohla Mar, pseudonym of Maria Rosales Gerpe

"I don't know how we'd..."

"No, don't start with a quote." My editor at the local newspaper redlines my article.

Oh but how I long to start an article with a quote. My instinct is that this draws you in like you're mid conversation. It turns you into a detective, looking for clues to understand the inside story, to truly chuckle at the inside joke.

"It's not clear," she explains.

But I know it's not clear. It's engaging and that, ladies and gentlemen, is exactly what I'm looking for.

See, Im trying to mimic a dialogue, a back-and-forth with you, the reader, and starting with the who, what, where, when, why, just won't do.

But by the third quote-at-the-beginning-of-the-article failed attempt, I defer to my editor who knows best.

So imagine my surprise when in the eve of 2025, I encountered not one but TWO writers who've started their articles with --- you guessed it--- a freaking quote!

The offenders are none other than Eddie Shlyener, who to my great delight also has ADHD like me, and Mason Currey. And I discovered their offences in the books "Very Good Copy", and "Daily Rituals: How Artists Work," which they respectively wrote, and both of which I highly recommend.

Let's look at how they both use quotes right from the bat.

Eddie does it quite often in "Very Good Copy," to outline things clearly, and get you to continue reading along, but this one is my favourite.

" 'You write so much,' They said. 'How do you decide what to write about next?' " What you just read is the beginning to his micro-lesson "Curious Idiots," and I love how the dialogue mirrors the headline, explaining in an instant the hopelessness we typically experience about writing.

Here's how Mason does it.

" 'Routine, in an intelligent man, is a sign of ambition,' Auden wrote in 1958." Notice how Mason wants you to hear straight from the man (poet, W. H. Auden), himself about how he approaches his day. You immediately get a sense of how structured this writer's day will be without having to go into mundane explanation. The poet says it best.

Gosh, don't you love those examples?

What I learned is that there doesn't seem to be a right or wrong way to write, and though the job of an editor is to follow rules, perhaps that of the writer is to break them.