Ten Rules for Fiction

I found this list in an old notebook. I don't remember where I got it from--I didn't have the habit of writing down references back then. Now I'm very strict with myself about that, though. I deeply regret not having writing down this one source. Worse, I'm sure that if I keep digging in old notebooks, I'm going to find out more stuff like this.
Luckily, everything I've copyed from books and magazines is marked in a way that will make it impossible for me to confuse it with something original I write. Specially since when I write original stuff my handwriting is all like spider legs all over the place, and when I copy I make an extra effort to write more clearly.

I'll stop divaging now.

The list is originally titled Ten Rules for Suspense Fiction, but I think they can apply to most fiction. And I also think they should be regarded more like guidelines.

And here's the list (finally). I specially like the tenth rule.

Ten Rules for Suspense Fiction

1) Start with action; explain it later.

2) Make it though for your protagonist.

3) Plan it early; pay it off later.

4) Give the protagonist the initiative
- Only in poor gothic fiction the protagonist is habitually and tearfully and handwringingly at the mercy of evil opposing forces which push him/her around at will.
- The best story is usually that in which the protagonist takes active steps to achieve a goal against impossible odds, or to prevent opposing forces from overcoming him/her or his/her loved ones.
- The protagonist may begin by reacting, but in the end, he/she must act from his/her own initiative.

5) Give the protagonist a personal stake.
- The more intimate his/her involvement in the main conflict of the story, the better. Whatever the conflict is, if he/she loses, it's going to cost him/her horribly; that's the essence.

6) Give the protaginist a tight time limit. An then shorten it.
- Don't use this one unless you can work in it believable.

7) Choose your charater according to your own capacities as well as his/hers.
- Research.
- Stick with the familiar.

8) Know your destination before you set out.
- The best key to a good ending is to know what the ending will be before you start writing the book.

9) Don't rush in where angels fear to tread.

10) Don't write anything you wouldn't want to read.