These writing rules are paraphrased from the talk Mr. Ted Dunagan gave at Athens Academy on February 19.
1. Write three pages a day. I learned this from Jack London. That was his rule--three pages a day, no matter what.
2. Write what you know, although sometimes you have to sprinkle in a little imagination to get the reader fired up and to keep the pages turning.
3. The Chapter Rule: "Grab" the reader at the beginning of each chapter, and "leave them hanging" at the end of each chapter.
4. The Painted Floor Syndrome: write yourself into a corner--a situation where there seems to be absolutely no way out. You'll be surprised at the solutions your imagination will come up with! If you can't paint your way back out, you can always go back and start over.
5. The Beginning and The End Rule: when you start a story, you have to know how it will begin and how it will end. The middle will take care of itself if you know both of these things.
6. Remember that you are not bound by time. What I mean by this is that you have probably had some experience where you looked back and wished, "Wow, I wish I had done that or said something else." Well, in writing you can go back and say the right thing, fix what was wrong, etc., because you are not bound by time.
None of what I have told you did I read in a book, they are just some of the things I learned and that worked for me. I hope some of them might work for you.