Why rules help, not hinder, a writer...

I was asked recently by a screenwriter new to the game whether knowing the rules of writing screenplays, though useful, would hinder/inhibit creativity? My immediate reaction was to say "No, I don't think it should. No more than watching a TV show or reading a novel would affect how you write your own. It's what you do with your own ideas that makes their originality".

This question is common among new writers, along with the time-old worry of idea theft. We've all thought it in the beginning: "I don't think I should pass my script on to anyone in case they steal my ideas!" 

Today I received Yves Lavandier's "Writing Drama" for my birthday. It was even signed by the man himself "For Michelle, an aspiring screenwriter, Yves". I was very excited when I saw it - I knew that the books were being signed, but I had no idea it would be a personal signing!

Anyhow, I have been reading through it this afternoon whilst munching on my belgian seashell choccies (yum!) and I kept reading passage after passage that pretty much backed up and confirmed the advice I had given the screenwriter. Granted, Yves is talking about the good in learning the rules of drama, but drama is what screenplays (amongst other story mediums) are all about.

I wanted to share these quotes with you (which will apply to the rules of story and structure as well as drama itself) because I think we can all learn a lot from them. 

"If a degree of uniformity has arisen [rules creating works that all look the same], this is more probably due to the lack of daring displayed by certain decision-makers and the lack of creativity and personality among certain screenwriters."

Here, Yves is saying that it's a writer's creativity and what they do with their own ideas that ensures a screenplay's uniqueness.

Yves thinks we can still enjoy plays, films and comics once we know all the rules:

"When a piece of drama "works", it affects all spectators in much the same way. When it doesn't "work", the trained eye is better able to identify and understand its weaknesses."

I take from this quote the viewpoint that knowing the rules can help you develop as a writer. Recognising the merits or downfalls of other works can help inform your own writing.

"I believe that what makes an idea, a religion or a work of art successful is not how apposite it is, or how perfect, but how much it acts as social glue."

Here, I believe Yves is talking about how following the rules doesn't always create good drama. It is the effect of your writing upon the audience/viewer and how they can relate to it that makes it a success.

"The techniques involved in the language of drama are closer in essence to the rules of competence. Having learned these, it is up to the writer to "perform," that is, to establish his style."

So, knowing the rules won't necessarily make you good at writing. It is what you do with them and how you develop your own style that matters.

And perhaps the most pertinent quote of all:

"Knowing the rules is no guarantee of talent - though that may help a talent to develop."

I like this quote because, to me, it says two things:

Knowing the rules doesn't necessarily mean you have authority over those that don't because you still have to prove your talent. But it also says that knowing the rules can help you develop.

Talent is all well and good, but you need a system within which to nurture and promote it. The rules form the basic platform of all writing. There's no need to wholly comply with them or to become restricted by them, but simply knowing them plants seeds of knowledge in your creative mind which will eventually grow and mould into your own interpretations. In my view, it is a writer's interpretation that makes a story. 

Yves even answers my screenwriting aquaintance's question of whether rules inhibit creativity directly:

"Knowledge of the rules is no obstacle to spontaneity in creation".

And there's even scientific proof of this:

"It is because our understanding of rules is housed in the left hemisphere [of the brain] and the spontaneity of artistic creation in the right that the former does not hinder the latter."

I'd like to finish with this quote in conclusion:

"Experience shows that writers who have a conscious understanding of the rules continue to produce spontaneously. But spontaneity does not automatically provide good results. [...] Understanding of the rules enables him to channel this spontaneity: unconsciously, within the brain, and consciously when it comes to correcting and rewriting what has emerged from these labours. [...] An understanding of the rules has the immense advantage  of providing a methodology, one that enables the dramatist to stand back a little from his work and make the most of his abilities and his material."