Sometimes it seems like life is all about rules.  As musicalpoet communicates so well in "Class Rules" – "study for the rest of your life and don't sleep and don't eat and don't take vacations and if you have free time use it to memorize something" – rules seem to come from every side, whether you're at home, at school, or even here on The Slam.  Of course, lots of rules are there for a reason.  Our Slam Rules, for instance, are few, but we're real sticklers about them because we believe they help to make The Slam a better community for everyone. When writers break the rules of The Slam – by sending us novellas 15,000 words long, or giving us bogus email addresses, or submitting work when they happen to be 42 years old – that doesn't help anyone.

But here's the good news: when it comes to the content of your writing, The Slam is all about breaking rules.  We love to see boundaries stretched, cliches overturned, assumptions challenged.  So I'd like to give a shout-out to a couple of rule-breakers on The Slam this month who are forging new paths and reimagining the guidelines for what writing can be.

musicalpoet from Alabama leads the way, ironically breaking the very rules she writes about.  "Class Rules" flouts traditional laws of form and style, eschewing punctuation and capitalization in an effort to portray the endless monotony of rules being touted by figures of authority. Even her neat organization breaks down as she moves from "class rules" to "home rules" to rules that are simply "miscellaneous." Her piece urges readers to question the regulations imposed upon them, and her unconventional writing style backs up her message.

Erica from Missouri takes similar risks in "Trust Me?"  Erica chooses to tell her story in one long string of dialogue, with no introductions, no quotation marks, no cues to help the reader distinguish one voice from another.  A stylistic disaster? Absolutely not.  Her piece beautifully communicates the intrinsic inertia of the scene, the rush toward the inevitable conclusion.  In Erica's writing, just as in the fictional world she creates, the usual rules don't apply.

Is it coincidence that this month's Slammables feature so many rule-breaking characters, too?  The characters in "Funny" take liberties with language; the friends in "Once upon a time..." challenge the restrictions of childhood and adulthood; the protagonist in "Square One" refuses to accept the limitations imposed upon him.  If writing that breaks the rules is often the most refreshing to read, characters who break the rules are often the most fun to read about.  They are the innovators, the movers and shakers in their restrictive worlds.  So as you forge ahead with your own writing, dear Slammers, read the few rules we have, and stick to them.  But we hope you'll come to The Slam as a place where you can shake off some of the restrictions of your everyday writing, and let your style soar above and beyond anyone's expectations.

Cheers,

Ann Pedtke
Slam Master