Let’s talk about rules in art. What a huge, classic, controversial, timeless, provocative, and above all, interesting topic!
Well, I say I want to write about “rules in art” when in fact, I am going to write about how there are none.
Kind of. We’ll get to that later.
High school traumas
This post was inspired by a recent conversation I had with some friends who were complaining about how annoying it was when their high school literature professors nagged them about all the “rules” in literature.
It reminded me of all the similar conversations among creative writing and artistic circles. Because there are artists who passionately defend rules and the importance of learning them, while at the same time, there are artists who vehemently claim there are absolutely no rules in art. So which is it?
The thing is, when teachers, mentors, and artists talk about “rules”, they are not always talking about the same thing.
Sometimes, they actually talk about rules or what they perceive as rules. Sometimes, they are just talking about general guidelines and label them as “rules”. But most of the time, when people talk about “rules” in art, what they are really talking about are principles.
Because there are no rules in art. But there are principles.
So what’s the difference and how can this help you?
Rules
When we talk about rules in art, I want to bring your attention to the emotional effect of the words used.
Namely, the word “rule” implies three things:
an authority - either a person or a group of people that had decided and declared this rule,
obedience - the aim of the rule is to be obeyed and followed, and
consequences - if you break the rule, you will be punished or there will be other bad consequences for disobedience.
And these three do not exist in art.
Authority in art
Of course, there are people who are deemed authorities and people who deem themselves authorities in art circles. But these are all just people. Like, normal mortal humans. The rules they “make” only function within certain contexts. These rules are always conditional, not inherent in the creativity and work you do.
Throughout human history, there have been attempts at declaring rules in various art forms. A person says, “You should always do this and that in order to write good poetry/drama/painting/song/whatever.”
The funny thing is, they always say this as a rule to create what they will consider good. So if you break the rules declared by this person, the punishment will be them saying, “Well, this song is bad.” And that’s it!
A great example of this is Blake Snyder writing about Christopher Nolan’s Memento in Save the Cat! And that does not make Memento a bad film. It just means that Snyder failed to see its genius. Which is totally fine. My point is, these “authorities” are just people.
Given the multitude of different interests out there, remember that there are people out there who do not care what some authority figure says and may actually appreciate your work deeply. (Much like many people do with Memento.)
That is how new directions in art begin. It happens all the time.
And that is pretty awesome.
Teaching and learning about rules
There are, however, other connotations associated with the word “rule”. It may also refer to general advice, habit, or description of what is mostly true.
This is where the people who defend the use of rules in art come in.
What we are really talking about here are patterns, observations, descriptions of past work, and advice from experience.
We are talking about craft.
We are talking about principles.
Principles
When I use the word “principle”, I am of course not referring to moral beliefs but rather similarly to how it is used in science:
Principles describe patterns you can observe.
They usually explain how something works or why something happens.
And that’s the key. It’s about understanding the material you work with and how it behaves in different situations. Just like a carpenter learns about wood, the writer learns about elements of storytelling, whether it is through intentional learning or by experience. Usually, it’s a combination of both.
Principles are observed. You are never obligated to believe them blindly. You may learn about them from teachers and mentors but you can also always test them out yourself and explore them.
Principles of Music
For example, using a minor scale will often create a sad song - not because some authority demands it but because that is the effect it produces and you can feel it for yourself.
However, you may want to play around with various elements of the song and from the same sad tune create either a darkly mischievous or scarily ominous one. To do that, you will use the principles of rhythm, tempo, choice of instruments, and other musical elements.
In other words, you will get to know the material you are working with, in this case, music.
Principles of Writing
Or you may be writing a story that seems a bit boring to you. So you can experiment with different aspects of it.
Perhaps your protagonist didn’t really care about anything or wasn’t motivated about what you wanted them to do. What happens if you give this character a goal they care about? What happens if you raise the stakes of that goal? Can you see how that affects the story?
It’s not that one option is better or more correct than the other. It’s just about noticing what happens when you change different aspects of what you are working with. And then it’s up to you to choose what you want to do.
How can this help you?
The great thing about principles is that you cannot break them - because there is nothing to break.
A principle describes a certain aspect of the behaviour of the material you are working with. You can use it or you can not use it. You can experiment with it. You can play around with it. You can combine it with other principles. But again, you cannot break it - because there is nothing to break. You are free to do whatever you want.
The best thing you can do for your art is to recognise that nothing you do is right or wrong. Because there is no right or wrong in art.
With that comes the freedom to shift your focus from “What is the right way to do this?” to “What do I want to create? What is calling me right now? What sparks my curiosity?”
What matters is:
What kind of story do you want to create?
What kind of a song do you want to write?
What kind of art do you like and enjoy?
Understanding the principles of the material you work with will help you get deeper into what interests you and create what you want to create.
Get curious and watch your creativity flourish.
Ultimately, it’s not about words
When people talk about rules in art, they are either talking about their own taste or the principles. They may also use other words, like “laws” or “guidelines”.
Ultimately, it doesn’t matter what words you use as long as you understand the difference between someone commanding you to do something and learning about how the material you are working with behaves.
And that’s really the only thing I wanted to say with this post. Hopefully, it has made sense and perhaps even resonated with you. And if you’ve made it this far, thank you for reading it!
Share this post with a friend to remind them there are no rules in art.
And if you haven’t already, subscribe to get more posts like this directly in your inbox in the future ↓
I hope March treats you well and I will see you soon.
Stay creative ✨
Katja