Rules of Writing Fiction, IMHO (in order of importance): 1. Reader must be [entertained/uplifted/sad/furious/FEEL SOMETHING]. 2. Reader must understand what is happening.
Everything else—and that includes grammar, punctuation, etc. etc—is a supporting element. You can take them or leave them according to how well they serve Rules 1 and 2.
Nah! I don’t agree! How can I make the reader feel what I want him to feel if I don’t use proper grammar and punctuation ! Punctuation! It can alter the entire meaning of a sentence. So if the sentence doesn’t mean what I want it to how will the reader feel what I want him/her to! I mean I have made errors while writing too…some I just couldn’t spot while proofreading. But I wouldn’t not make it a priority intentionally !
Understandable! But before we get into a semantic debate, I’d argue the definition of “proper punctuation.” Right now I’m digging into Stephen King. He uses run on sentences, whole paragraphs that are just one uncapitalized, italicized word in parenthesis, and all kinds of creative twists. If you want to see horrible grammar/great storytelling try inspecting Marcus Sakey’s best selling Brilliance saga. Long story short: I feel that it’s important to be able to write a good essay to understand basic written communication, but in order to send your reader tailspinning into another dimension, you have to be willing to break the rules. Not all the time, just when it (ironically) communicates the story better. 🙂
No it’s best to be conservative in these matters. I totally understand! I mean, if your reader doesn’t understand what’s going on, then you damn sure better be making them feel INTENSELY, you know what I mean? I’ve had people recommend movies like Silver Linings Playbook and Life of Pi to me when they didn’t understand any of why things happened the way they did but they were so beautifully done that it didn’t matter. So I think as long as a writer is focused on truly having their reader enjoy the experience, then it’s ok! 🙂
I can’t tell you how many books I’ve read that have lacked #1. You come away not remembering much of the story and *feeling* super disappointed because of the story!
Grammatic structure is a transient creation for our day and age; how grammatically correct are the literary works from a thousand years ago, right? They don’t even spell the same way we do; what is important (and here I’m just agreeing more firmly with you, haha!) is that the story touches the audience’s spirit.
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Kent Wayne 
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